Schools Audit Questionnaire

C5/1

Schools Audit Questionnaire

For the Year Ended 31 December 2012

School:
Completed By: / Position: / Date:

To assist in enabling an efficient audit process for both you and us we need your assistance. The following questionnaire is to be completed by the school principal or school executive officer. Please then return this to us for use in our planning and execution of your audit.

GOVERNANCE

1.  Management Accounts

Does your school prepare monthly management accounts? Yes/No

i.  If yes, who are these prepared by? ______

ii.  Are these management accounts reviewed by the board? Yes/No

2.  Controlled Entities

Does your school own or is your school associated with any entities where the

school could be considered to have control (i.e. majority voting interest)? Yes/No

3.  Ten Year Property Plan

a.  In what year was your school’s ten year property plan last updated.

______

b.  Were there any significant changes to your school’s ten year property plan during 2012? (if yes please attach a copy to this questionnaire). Yes/No

c.  Were there any significant maintenance projects during the year? Yes/No

If yes please list below: (use a separate sheet if necessary)

(a)  Performed as part of capital works (MOE funded)
(b)  Cyclical maintenance (painting)

4.  Policies

Does your school have documented policies around payments in relation to:

Travel Yes/No

Credit Cards Yes/No

Gifts and entertainment Yes/No

5.  Insurance

Does your board have public liability and professional liability insurance? Yes/No

If yes, who with? ______

Have there been major changes to your insurance cover during 2012? Yes/No

If yes, please supply details of the sum insured for the following:

Building / $
Contents / $
Public liability / $
Trustees’ liability / $
Motor Vehicle / $
Foreign Fee / $
Other (specify) / $

6.  Fraud Policy

a. i. Does your school have a fraud detection policy? Yes/No

ii. Has this been communicated to all staff? Yes/No

iii. Has this policy been amended during 2012? Yes/No

(if yes please attach a copy to this questionnaire).

b. Have there been any instances of fraud that have come to the attention of the board or management during the year Yes/No

7.  Protected Disclosure Policy – has this been amended during 2012? Yes/No

8.  Legislative Compliance

a. Describe the procedures in place to ensure the board complies with its statutory/legislative obligations:

b. Who ensures that these obligations are met?

______

c. Are board members aware of section 103A of the Education Act which prohibits related party transactions in excess of $25,000? Yes/No

d. Are board members aware that cash may only be invested with a registered bank or in an approved public security? Yes/No

e. Are board members aware that the annual repayments of principal and interest on all borrowings (including overdrafts and finance leases) may not to exceed 10% of the annual operations grant for the year exclusive of GST? Yes/No

f. Have there been any known breaches of legislation during the year Yes/No

ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS

1.  Have you changed your accounting system during the year? (i.e. new software, significant upgrades etc.).

______

2.  List everyone who has access or authority to post journals to the ledger and their varying levels of access (i.e. full access or limited access), including external accounting service providers.

Name: / Position: / Access:
Full/Limited
Full/Limited
Full/Limited

3.  Are separate individual passwords required to access the ledger system?

4.  How often is the accounting software backed up and who performs this function?

5.  Are the backup tapes tested regularly and stored securely offsite? Yes/No

INCOME

1.  School Roll/Donations

a. Please supply the following details in relation to school donations for 2012:

School Fee $______

Number of local students ______

(For College – use March 2012 roll figures)

(For Primary/Intermediate – use July 2012 roll figures)

b. Is the school roll: Increasing/Decreasing/Stable

If your school roll is decreasing, what action is being taken to address this decrease?

2.  Locally Raised Funds

a. What processes are in place to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud and error over locally raised funds?

o / Issuing receipts at the point funds are received
o / Using a till tape to record transactions at the point funds are received
o / Reconciliations of funds received against receipts or till tape at the end of the day
o / Reconciliations are reviewed by someone other than the preparer
o / Cash is recounted and then deposited
o / Adequate segregation of duties are maintained where possible
o / Margins for trading and fundraising activities are regularly reviewed
o / Other, please explain ______

b. Have there been any issues identified around the income process during the year?

c. Did your school have any foreign fee paying students enrolled during 2012? Yes/No

i. If yes, please supply the following details in relation to foreign student fees for 2012:

School Fee $______

Number of FFP students ______

ii. Was any home stay income received in relation to foreign fee paying students? Yes/No

iii. Has your school signed the Code of Conduct for the Pastoral Care of International Students? Yes/No

iv. What protective policy is in place to safeguard the fees paid by international students?

PAYMENTS

1. Is a schedule of payments made, reviewed by the BOT at monthly meetings? Yes/No

2. How many signatories are required to authorise:

a. Cheque payments? ______

b. Electronic/Internet payments? ______

3. List ALL people that are able to authorise payments from your school’s bank account.

Name of signatories: / Position: / Electronic
payments / Cheques
o / o
o / o
o / o
o / o
o / o

3. Are cheques ever pre-signed? Yes/No

4. Are multiple cheque books used? Yes/No

5. Does your school use a purchase order system? Yes/No

6. Who approves the invoices before they are entered into the accounting ledger?

Credit Cards

7. Does the school have a credit card/s? Yes/No

If yes, please fill in the following:

Name of cardholder: / Card Limit: / Person responsible for authorisation of this credit card:

PAYROLL

1. i. Have there been any changes to employee contracts during the year? Yes/No

ii. Are up to date contracts held for each employee? Yes/No

2. Are there any employees who are not paid through the central payroll system? Yes/No

If yes, how many and what are these employees paid for?

3. Who has the authority to approve changes in the payroll?

4. Does an independent, authorised person perform a check of the fortnightly SUE report? Yes/No

5.  Were there any payroll errors during the year that were not related to errors in the Novopay

system and how were the errors rectified?

6.  Have any salary advances been made to employees, excluding hardship payments that might

have been made to employees not paid due to Novopay errors?

Yes/No

If yes, what are the circumstances?

7. Principal’s Remuneration

a. Has the school principal received any additional remuneration or “benefits” (e.g. use of school’s vehicle, payment of personal telephone calls, gym membership, etc) over and above what he/she is entitled to in the collective employment contract? Yes/No

b. If yes, has concurrence been obtained from the MOE during 2012? Yes/No

FIXED ASSETS

1. Does the board have a tender process for significant capital projects? Yes/No

If yes, please provide brief details of that policy.

2. Has the board or senior management performed an impairment review of the fixed assets

(i.e. are there any assets worth less than their value on the register?) Yes/No

3. Have there been any assets donated during the year? Yes/No

If yes, please provide approximate value of these assets where possible.

Leases

4. Did your school enter into any new leasing arrangements during the year? Yes/No

(If yes please provide copies of the lease documents)

BANK

1. Is the person who handles cash also responsible for the banking? Yes/No

2. Is there an independent check of monies received versus monies banked? Yes/No

3. Are monies held in a safe prior to banking? Yes/No

Who has access to this safe? ______

4. How often are monies banked? Daily / Weekly / Other ______

Other Information

1. Please provide the following documents as part of your work paper pack.

i.  Analysis of Variance

ii.  Statement of Resources (if including one)

iii.  Chairperson’s Report (if including one)

iv.  Principal’s Report (if including one)

Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. This will assist us in providing a more efficient audit with less interruption to your team on the day of the audit visit.

If you have any queries please contact audit manager Brendon Foy on (09) 367 1656 or email to

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