Audit of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

This is a state performance audit of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts covering July 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) for the period July 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019.”

Auditors checked how MCLA tracked furniture and equipment, handled missing or stolen property reporting, and managed procurement card purchases.

“In this performance audit, we examined MCLA’s administration of the inventory of furniture and equipment, compliance with Chapter 647 of the Acts of 1989, and administration of procurement cards.”

If inventory records are incomplete or inaccurate, the college may not know whether public assets are missing, stolen, misused, or need replacement.

“As a result, MCLA cannot be certain that all its furniture and equipment is accurately accounted for and safeguarded against misuse or that it can effectively detect lost, missing, or stolen items.”

As a taxpayer or student, this matters because MCLA received state funding and is expected to protect public resources and document spending properly.

“MCLA received appropriations of $16,888,607 and $17,695,143 from the Commonwealth for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, respectively.”

The college passed the missing-property reporting review, but failed the inventory and procurement-card control reviews.

“Did MCLA comply with Chapter 647 of the Acts of 1989 in reporting stolen and/or missing property?”

MCLA said it agreed with the findings and was working on fixes, including clearer inventory responsibilities, help from departments, and updated procurement-card controls.

“Based on its response, MCLA is working to address the issues identified.”

The audit found repeated recordkeeping problems: assets were not always tagged, annual inventory work was incomplete, inventory records were inaccurate, and procurement-card paperwork was missing or not approved.

“Without supervisory approval of monthly statements, the college does not have assurance that charges comply with MCLA policies.”

A procurement card is a payment card used by staff for purchases; the audit found the college did not always keep the logs, receipts, reconciliation, and approvals needed to show charges were proper.

“The original sales documents, (packing slip, invoice, cash register tape and credit card slips, etc.) for all items listed on the statement must be filed with a copy of the Procurement Card Log and monthly statement.”