Audit of the Massachusetts State College Building Authority

This is a state performance audit of the Massachusetts State College Building Authority covering July 1, 2016 through March 31, 2018.

“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 the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA) for the period July 1, 2016 through March 31, 2018.”

The audit checked whether MSCBA properly managed design and construction contracts, planned for student housing needs, and gave accurate financial data for public disclosure.

“We also determined whether MSCBA had developed an effective strategic plan to address the housing needs of students at Massachusetts state colleges and universities.”

The public website was supposed to show accurate state-related spending information, but the audit found MSCBA’s financial activity was not accurately reported there.

“As a result, its financial activities are not reported accurately to the public.”

If you are a Massachusetts resident, student, parent, or taxpayer, this matters because MSCBA finances and oversees buildings at public higher education campuses and reports spending data meant for public transparency.

“This statute authorizes MSCBA to finance and oversee the design and construction of dormitories, dining facilities, and certain other buildings at 9 state universities1 and 15 community colleges.2”

The biggest issue was inaccurate CTHRU reporting: for the sampled projects, CTHRU showed much less spending than MSCBA’s own records showed.

“For the 8 projects we sampled out of the 48 that were started during the audit period, CTHRU showed $10,538,940 less in project expenses than what was recorded in MSCBA’s financial records (its general ledger).”

MSCBA said it accepted the recommendation on CTHRU data and added a quarterly review process to help keep future uploaded data accurate.

“The Authority has confirmed that the data is accurate through December 31, 2018 and a quarterly review of all uploaded data has been added to our CTHRU procedures to ensure the accuracy of data in the future.”

The audit did not find problems with contract administration or the long-term student housing plan, but it did find weaknesses in public financial reporting and risk-management practices.

“Without an adequately documented system of internal controls, including a department-wide risk assessment, MSCBA management cannot measure, prioritize, and manage risks that are relevant to achieving its mission.”

CTHRU is the public online spending and payroll database; the general ledger is MSCBA’s official accounting record; internal controls are policies and procedures meant to reduce risks and keep operations reliable.

“CTHRU is a website maintained by the Comptroller of the Commonwealth to allow public access to state spending and payroll data.”