Audit

The higher education landscape continues to experience change at an accelerated rate. To remain relevant, competitive, and financially sustainable, leaders at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (Minnesota State)—the nation’s third largest system of colleges and universities—recognized a need for the …

Risk management and compliance are two of the core operational functions of colleges and universities that intersect the most with the law. Even more so than compliance, which at some institutions is part of or reports to the legal department, risk …

An often-volatile economy, changing demographics, and technological innovations in educational delivery are among the dramatic changes across higher education that have forced boards and institutions to question the viability of the existing business model. Flat or declining state support in …

Changes in higher education require input and support from leaders across the campus—especially the board, the president, and the faculty. In American colleges and universities, this collaboration is known as shared governance. In order to engage effectively in shared governance …

To the list of challenging regulatory issues likely to arise on your campus, add this relatively new one: protecting the statutory rights of employees who go public with accusations of malfeasance. A generation ago, American employers brooked no insubordination from so-called …

In October 2008, the Internal Revenue Service chose 400 public and private colleges and universities to participate in a “compliance project” that examined, among other areas, their respective executive compensation packages. Responses were made by 387 institutions, with the 13 …

The audit committee serves as the guardian of an institution's most valuable asset: its reputation. As colleges and universities have become subject to intense scrutiny, the result is a new institutional focus on accountability, transparency, and enterprise risk management, as …

April 01, 2011 - TAKEAWAYS Board members must ensure that the institution treats risk as inevitable. The key is to anticipate and respond rationally to the most serious exposures that could compromise the ability of the enterprise to function. Keep in mind that financial …