The Board of Visitors Committee on Audit and Compliance introduced the new Director of Audit Kent Erdahl ’83. Erdahl described the in-process audit and completed audits of the College of William and Mary and of Richard Bland College.
Erdahl said that he is working to identify where internal audits will be of most value given the internal audit department’s limited resources. He plans to have updated policies and procedures by the first quarter of this year.
The internal audit department recently completed the audit of the Omohundro Institute and the VIMS vessel review.
“This was the first time Omohundro was audited and, not surprisingly, there were a number of audit issues found. … From my perspective, the new director has taken an active role in addressing [these audit issues],” Erdahl said.
The VIMS vessel review evaluated the costs of the vessels to set vessel recovery rates, which, according to Erdahl, had not been updated for many years.
Erdahl also discussed the review of Procurement cards, or Pcards. Pcards are charge cards used by employees to purchase items with College funds.
“As charge card use increased, so has internal audit time,” Erdahl said.
Another area Erdahl plans to address is that of increasing audit department hours. The department is pushing 60 hours used in reviewing the use of Pcards. Erdahl suggested making use of technology to work “smarter.”
“For example, we can use the system to help us search the entire database using keywords such as ‘gift cards’ and ‘alcohol,’” Erdahl said.
Erdahl introduced his plan to review the 404 Conflict of Interest forms submitted each year and the cash handling procedures across campus. The committee members also discussed the review processes in place at Richard Bland College.
Chief Compliance Officer Kiersten Boyce presented on the College’s Compliance and Ethics program at the meeting, including training to prevent compliance problems.
“William and Mary doesn’t have a strong history [of training], [but] it’s a new age and a new day and we’re trying to respond to that,” Boyce said.
