SELECTED STATE UNIVERSITIES' REPORTING OF ENROLLMENT AND OTHER HEIDI DATA

Michigan Office of the
Auditor General
Thomas H. McTavish, C.P.A.
Auditor General

EXECUTIVE DIGEST #3330099
SELECTED STATE UNIVERSITIES' REPORTING OF ENROLLMENT AND OTHER HEIDI DATA

INTRODUCTION
This report, issued in May 1999, contains the results of our performance audit of Selected State Universities' Reporting of Enrollment and Other Higher Education Institutional Data Inventory (HEIDI) Data, including the provisions of the appropriations act for higher education (Act 271, P.A. 1998) and the Department of Management and Budget (DMB) annual budget letter, for fiscal year 1997-98.

AUDIT PURPOSE
This performance audit was conducted under the provisions of Section 701, Act 271, P.A. 1998, which mandates that the Auditor General audit enrollments at five public universities.

BACKGROUND
The 15 State universities are required to report certain enrollment and other HEIDI data to the Legislature and DMB on a fiscal year basis. Instructions for reporting the data are included in the boilerplate of the annual appropriations act for higher education and in the DMB annual budget letter to State universities.

For fiscal year 1997-98, gross appropriations totaled approximately $1.6 billion to the 15 State universities and the total number of fiscal year equated students enrolled at the 15 universities was over 214,000. For the 5 selected universities audited for fiscal year 1997-98, gross appropriations totaled approximately $472 million and the total number of fiscal year equated students was approximately 68,000.

AUDIT OBJECTIVE AND CONCLUSION
Audit Objective: To assess the accuracy of State universities' reporting of selected enrollment and other HEIDI data as required by the appropriations act and the DMB annual budget letter.

Conclusion: We concluded that the 5 selected universities were generally accurate in reporting enrollment and other HEIDI data. However, at 3 of the 5 universities, we noted instances of inaccurate reporting relating to one or more of the enrollment reporting requirements (Findings 1 through 6).

AUDIT SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
Our audit scope was to examine 5 of the 15 State universities' records supporting selected enrollment student credit hours and other Higher Education Institutional Data Inventory data relating to general fund expenditures and transfers reported to the Department of Management and Budget for fiscal year 1997-98. This included comparing reported instructional and non-instructional expenditures with the audited financial statements. Our audit was conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States and, accordingly, included such tests of the records and such other auditing procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.

We randomly selected 5 universities to be audited:

    Eastern Michigan University
    Lake Superior State University
    University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
    University of Michigan - Dearborn
    Northern Michigan University

We tested, on a selective basis, reported student credit hours and other HEIDI data for accuracy and adherence to the appropriations act and DMB annual budget letter

AGENCY RESPONSES
Our audit report includes 6 findings and 6 corresponding recommendations. The universities' preliminary responses indicated that they concurred with all of the recommendations.

Full Audit Report - #3330099 - SELECTED STATE UNIVERSITIES' REPORTING OF ENROLLMENT AND OTHER HEIDI DATA

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INTRODUCTION This report, issued in May 1999, contains the results of our performance audit of Selected State Universities' Reporting of Enrollment and Other Higher Education Institutional Data Inventory (HEIDI) Data, including the provisions of the appropriations act for higher education (Act 271, P.A. 1998) and the Department of Management and Budget (DMB) annual budget letter, for fiscal year 1997-98.

AUDIT PURPOSE This performance audit was conducted under the provisions of Section 701, Act 271, P.A. 1998, which mandates that the Auditor General audit enrollments at five public universities.

BACKGROUND The 15 State universities are required to report certain enrollment and other HEIDI data to the Legislature and DMB on a fiscal year basis. Instructions for reporting the data are included in the boilerplate of the annual appropriations act for higher education and in the DMB annual budget letter to State universities. For fiscal year 1997-98, gross appropriations totaled approximately $1.6 billion to the 15 State universities and the total number of fiscal year equated students enrolled at the 15 universities was over 214,000. For the 5 selected universities audited for fiscal year 1997-98, gross appropriations totaled approximately $472 million and the total number of fiscal year equated students was approximately 68,000.

AUDIT OBJECTIVE AND CONCLUSION Audit Objective: To assess the accuracy of State universities' reporting of selected enrollment and other HEIDI data as required by the appropriations act and the DMB annual budget letter. Conclusion: We concluded that the 5 selected universities were generally accurate in reporting enrollment and other HEIDI data. However, at 3 of the 5 universities, we noted instances of inaccurate reporting relating to one or more of the enrollment reporting requirements (Findings 1 through 6).

AUDIT SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY Our audit scope was to examine 5 of the 15 State universities' records supporting selected enrollment student credit hours and other Higher Education Institutional Data Inventory data relating to general fund expenditures and transfers reported to the Department of Management and Budget for fiscal year 1997-98. This included comparing reported instructional and non-instructional expenditures with the audited financial statements. Our audit was conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States and, accordingly, included such tests of the records and such other auditing procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We randomly selected 5 universities to be audited: Eastern Michigan University Lake Superior State University University of Michigan - Ann Arbor University of Michigan - Dearborn Northern Michigan University We tested, on a selective basis, reported student credit hours and other HEIDI data for accuracy and adherence to the appropriations act and DMB annual budget letter

AGENCY RESPONSES Our audit report includes 6 findings and 6 corresponding recommendations. The universities' preliminary responses indicated that they concurred with all of the recommendations.