Ohio University's Internal Audit Office spent 31 percent of its time last year on three major investigations and completed 14 of 17 scheduled internal audits, according to a report given to the Board of Trustees yesterday.
One of the investigations involved the inadvertent release of the personal information of 492 people who spoke at Ohio University's Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education in an online spreadsheet last March. The spreadsheet included the names, Social Security numbers, contact numbers, addresses, speaking topics and federal employer identification numbers of the speakers.
The other two investigations are ongoing.
Due to the length of time spent on these investigations, two audits remained in process at the year's end, and the audit of Human Resources was moved to next year.
Completed audits included Campus Recreation, College of Education, College of Health and Human Services, Eastern campus, Facilities Management, Treasury Management, University Outreach Operations and Zanesville campus.
Special projects included audit testing for OU's external auditor -- Plante and Moran. This testing has saved the university $12-$15 thousand since its first year, said Kathryn Gilmore, OU's chief audit executive.
A large portion of the meeting consisted of the committee's discussion of the administration of OU's Ethics Hotline, maintained by EthicsPoint Incorporated. Two hotline reports were received last year and lead to investigations in Zanesville Regional Campus and Facilities Management audits. The board plans to increase promotion in the next year.
It is important to maximize the effectiveness of the hotline
Trustee David Wolfort said.
The Internal Audit Office's budget of $396,527 remained overwhelmingly devoted to personnel costs, with $380,043 for salaries and benefits, $4,000 for the Ethics Hotline, and $2,074 for telephone lines. The remaining $10,410 are discretionary funds divided amongst repair and replacement, supplies, benefits, and travel and training.
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Catherine Pomiecko
