Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The number of findings in the fiscal-year 2022 audit of financially troubled Mesalands Community College and its foundation dropped by almost half from the previous year and showed other improvements.
The college’s board of trustees gathered for a special meeting Thursday with Donna M. Trujillo of the Office of the State Auditor to approve an exit conference for the audit and an entrance for the FY2023 audit.
The number of findings in the college’s 2022 audit totaled nine, compared to 17 in the previous fiscal year. The 2022 audit was a qualified opinion — an improvement from the previous year’s adverse opinion, Trujillo said.
Trujillo said the audit for major federal programs also improved to an unmodified opinion — the best available.
“I think we’re improving, and it’s because our staff working hard,” board Chairman Richard Primrose said. “I think we’ll be even better next year.”
Trujillo said her office will begin work on the FY2023 this week and expressed hope to finish it by the end of the fiscal year in late June.
She expressed hope her office would complete a FY2024 audit by its usual deadline of Nov. 15.
Mesalands interim president Allen Moss, attending the meeting by videoconference, asked Trujillo about a mandatory special audit by her office.
She responded it had been placed “on the back burner” until the FY2023 audit is finished.
The Office of the State Auditor took over the college’s audits last year after Mesalands’ financial difficulties came to light.
About a year ago, its finances were so grim, it appeared the college might not make payroll. Emergency funds from the state and progressive pay cuts kept Mesalands afloat.
The difficulties led to no-confidence votes by the executive staff, faculty senate and staff senate against Mesalands President Gregory Busch, who left town shortly afterward and submitted his resignation weeks later.
The turmoil also prompted the resignation of longtime board of trustees chairman Jim Streetman.
Trujillo, citing the audit report, said the Mesalands ran a deficit of $1.9 million during the 2022 fiscal year.
According to the report, reconciliations of Mesalands finances weren’t completed or provided until as long as 14 months after the end of the fiscal year.
In the findings, the audit reported material weaknesses in financial reporting, bank reconciliations and journal entries.
It cited “extensive staff turnover” in the business office and difficulties experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The audit stated it was “months behind” in all accounts.
Regarding reconciliations, the audit stated: “As the posting fell further behind, reconciliation became too large a task for the internal staff.”
To solve those problems, it stated Mesalands should ensure adequate staffing and cross-training in the business office.
The audit found significant deficiencies in the foundation’s endowment documentation, internal controls to safeguard students’ personal information and late submission of audit data.
The audit also reported more than $800,000 in undercollateralized funds at several local banks. That means if the banks collapsed, the college would lose some of those funds. Trujillo said having those funds properly insured by the FDIC is “easy to correct.”