WSU Audit Update Blog

An organization's control environment is the component most influencing the control consciousness of its people. The control environment is the basis for internal control and sets the tone for an organization. This episode examines how you contribute to the university's control environment.

What is internal control? This episode provides a definition highlighting the importance of an organization's people to its control system and internal controls' connection to positive risk-taking and meeting objectives.

Internal controls provide direction and prevent, find, and fix problems! Everyone working at a college or university has a role in internal control. Here we begin a 10-part series about internal control at colleges and universities that will heighten your understanding of our control system at WSU and your essential role in its success!

WSU Export Control & Compliance Officer James Elliott joins us again for part two of his column explaining the prevalence and importance of Export Controls. Elliott summarizes the principal areas subject to Export Controls, followed by those that are not, and when to seek guidance.

Export Controls are more prevalent than you might think at first. WSU Export Control & Compliance Officer James Elliott joins us this month for the first of a two-part column. Elliott provides an overview of the vast number of regulatory items under the giant umbrella known as "Export Controls."

An essential part of cybersecurity is compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), an initiative designed to protect payment card data. The university has a committee of finance and IT professionals dedicated to overseeing its compliance effort. What cybersecurity risk is most relevant to WSU?

Taking a break from our internal control series, I'm sharing excerpts from a recent edition of The Art of Noticing newsletter. I had an opportunity to share with Rob Walker how his "Art of Noticing" theme resonated with this group. Rob loved it and featured the WSU Audit Update Blog in his newsletter.

Petty cash is a small amount of money kept in a department for incidental expenses. This case caught my attention because the fraudster allegedly embezzled more than $57,000 from petty cash over four years. There's nothing trivial about $57,000. This post is a primer about petty cash and change funds so you can distinguish between them and know how they work at WSU.

Previous blog posts have featured misappropriation schemes at other universities to highlight the importance of segregation of duties, management oversight, and other control activities. A $500,000 embezzlement at another Kansas Board of Regents university provides a closer-to-home look at what can go wrong when one person has complete control of departmental operations.

Without using the title of your job, tell me what you do. Interim president Rick Muma and more than a dozen others replied to the icebreaker I shared last month. Some were succinct, while others were longer and included a bit of personality or humor. Using our skills to help and support others is the predominant theme.