Thanks Jesse and Courtney! Absolutely, as schools grow, effective delegation to department managers is crucial; that being said, we must make sure that the job expectations for our managers are clearly defined, that the necessary resources to do the job are identified and available, and that we empower our managers to envision, plan, decide, implement and evaluate those actions necessary to effectively lead their departments.
Jay Hollowell
CM101 Guest Facilitator
Richard, this is an excellent list!!
When a finding has been identified, a departmental action plan put in place, corrective actions taken, and follow-up occurs ... somewhere in the process, particularly for large departments, there should be staff training, or retaining, to ensure everyone understands the finding and the response.
I am in agreement that the action plan should include those items found to be problematic by the auditors. The plan should address these specific issues and detail steps that are being taken and will be taken as far as corrective measures to prevent the findings from being issues in the future and keep the institution in compliance based on the department's guidelines.
Exactly...I am also in agreement. The objective ultimately is to ensure the finding is corrected and that a policy is put in place to prevent future findings.
I feel that internal audits are a sure way to ensure that there will be less findings.
Jennifer - I agree with you - Internal audits should be welcomed versus resisted as it should produce better external audits.
Very thorough list and good information!
Date Finding Reported
Date Response Submitted
Additional Information Requested in finding(if applicable)
Date Additional Information was provided
Identification of Campus and/or Department Responding
Identification of individual preparing the Response
Statement of Specific Finding for which Response is submitted
Steps required for restitution (if applicable)
Date restitution accomplished (if applicable)
Actions/Circumstances that contributed to finding
Procedure/Policy developed to resolve issue raised in finding
Date of implementation of Corrective Procedure/Policy developed
Monitoring System designed to ensure continued compliance
Department responsible for monitoring activity
Individual(s) with direct responsibility for monitoring activity
Reporting required to demonstrate continued compliance (if applicable)
Target dates for report generation/submission (if applicable)
The most important thing is that the process is put into place and kept in place. Internal audits should not be started when times are bad and then stopped when the heat is off. They need to be a mandatory action item for each campus to complete annually.
Karen - I completely agree that it's important to keep internal audit going proactively instead of reacting to problems.
I am in the same situation than Beth. I am new to the business and I will have to start working this month on the respond to our last external audit. Richard’s list will be a great help for me as well as all the comments posted in this discussion. Thank you all!
Elyse - There are also some lists provided in the Additional Resources section for your reference.
In addition to the detail of events and when they occurred, the corrective action plan should provide relevent comments on the detailed action taken to correct any deficiencies from the audit findings. It would aso be a good idea to include projected completion dates for all items that have not yet been implemented.
It should include the steps that will be put in place to correct the findings and to avoid future findings. Updated policies or procedures should be included, if applicable.
I would want to see an explaination on the cause of the finding from the school/department, an solution to the finding and any progress made since the finding.
A corrective plan should include identification of the root cause of the finding, a determination of the way to prevent or correct the finding going forward, a detailed action plan to implement the solution, a timeline that the various steps of the action plan will be completed, and a suggested time and method for verifying the new process is in place and has corrected the finding.
Very thorough answer, Nick. Nice job!
I agree Jennifer, internal audits are a great way to indentify any mistakes or problem areas and address them.
The corrective action plan should outline what has been done to become compliant, provide exhibits of the new procedure along with completed examples that show the revision has come to fruition and is being implemented.
Ashley - well stated. Such displays of actual implementation of new processes provides solid evidence versus a list of things "to do" at a later time.
