State audit finds accounting practice errors at Cleveland State; School promises to do better

From NewsChannel 9: An audit by Tennessee’s comptroller finds Cleveland State Community College staff members did not use best practices in their record keeping.

In response, the school agrees with the audit’s findings and says it will work to improve those best practices.

Read the full audit here.

Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower says the school’s accounting staff “did not always prepare its bank account reconciliations in a timely manner” between June of 2021 and June of 2022.

Bank account reconciliations the process of matching the balances in an entity’s accounting records for a cash account to the corresponding information on a bank statement, with the goal of having the two match exactly.

Best practices require bank reconciliations to be prepared within 30 days after the end of the month and a documented review to be performed shortly thereafter,’ the audit says. ‘Performing bank reconciliations timely is necessary in order to detect fraudulent transactions and promptly notify the bank of errors.

In response, the community college says it will take these actions to reduce risks:

1. “The Finance Office will prepare bank reconciliations monthly with no unreconciled differences between the college’s general ledger and bank account balances. The Finance Office has set a written expectation that bank reconciliations will be completed within the required 30 days.
2. Finance Office staff will utilize additional methods to ensure efficiency and accuracy.
3. Additional staff will be dedicated to helping ensure the timely completion of the reconciliation process.
4. Management will review all bank reconciliations and batch reports prior to being filed to ensure that they are signed and dated.”