In accordance with a Board of Trustees mandate, Ohio University's Internal Audit office went live with an anonymous Internet and telephone-based fraud-reporting tool about two weeks ago.
The cost of the service, provided by EthicsPoint, Inc, is $8,100 annually with a one-time $1,500 implementation fee, paid for through the Internal Audit budget, said Kathryn Gilmore, OU director of Internal Audit. These fees provide OU with 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year Internet and telephone reporting system.
The system is designed for people to easily report anything fraudulent and to maintain anonymity of the reporter if he or she chooses, Gilmore said. Examples of claims people could make to the hotline are work environment problems, witnessing theft and NCAA violations, she said.
The Internal Audit Web site directs OU employees and students to file a report under one of seven categories. Reporters then answer several questions pertaining to the alleged fraud and are issued a reporting key and password for optional anonymity and asked to sign back in within seven to 10 days to answer follow-up questions, Gilmore said.
If the reporter does not want to use the Internet interface, a professionally-manned telephone hotline is offered in which the operator asks questions and uses the same interface as the reporter would by filing the report on the Web site. The operator then e-mails the report to the OU Internal Audit office, which forwards the e-mail to a department for investigation, Gilmore said.
It's important to note that EthicsPoint does no investigating
she said.
Since the system went live, four human resources reports have been made, one of which was mistakenly based on a rumor and lacked information, she said.
The obligation of the reporter should not be taken lightly, Gilmore said. Intentional reporting of false or misleading information can result in civil or criminal liability according to the EthicsPoint terms and conditions.
(We) went with EthicsPoint because it's the premier tool for reporting fraud Gilmore said. The Board of Trustees requested that we do it because they are very familiar with (whistle-blower hotlines)
Trustees initially considered the idea a few years ago, said Daniel DeLawder, vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees.
We felt it was a very logical extension for communication in the university
DeLawder said. We have students
staff and faculty who might find some advantage in having the confidential tool.
The Internal Audit office reviewed several vendors for the ethics hotline, including My Safe Campus, My Safe Workplace, Global Compliance Services and EthicsPoint.
Of all the universities in Ohio, only Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve University use a vendor other than EthicsPoint for reporting fraud, and both use Global Compliance Services, Gilmore said. We started doing our homework just when EthicsPoint got involved
said Judy Richards, CSU audit director. It was just committee preference.
One of the deciding factors in using EthicsPoint at OU was the easy-to-use interface the company uses and the ability to ask reporters follow-up questions, Gilmore said.
We're an electronic-based kind of culture (at OU)
she said.
17
Archives
