Bunker Hill Community College

This is a Massachusetts State Auditor performance audit of Bunker Hill Community College covering July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2016.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) has conducted a performance audit of Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) for the period July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2016.”

Auditors reviewed how the college handled fixed assets, required loss reporting, certain spending, credit cards, and campus crime reporting rules.

“In this performance audit, we examined BHCC’s administration of its inventory of fixed assets, its compliance with the reporting requirements of Chapter 647 of the Acts of 1989, certain administrative expenditures, its administration of the use of college credit cards, and its compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.”

When a public college does not track equipment carefully, property can be lost, stolen, or misused without being noticed.

“As a result of these issues, there is a higher-than-acceptable risk of undetected theft or misuse of assets.”

For ordinary citizens and taxpayers, the issue is whether public property bought for a public college is being protected, tracked, and accounted for properly.

“BHCC also did not conduct a complete physical inventory in fiscal year 2016.”

The audit found two main problems: poor fixed-asset inventory practices and failure to file required reports about unaccounted-for losses.

“BHCC did not file required reports on unaccounted-for losses.”

The Auditor recommended that BHCC finish and reconcile annual inventories, store items securely, train inventory staff, and assign one person to report asset losses to the Auditor.

“BHCC should amend and enforce its internal control plan, designating one individual with the responsibility of monitoring and reporting to OSA all losses of college assets.”

The problems were specific and measurable: auditors could not find some assets, found other assets still listed even though they had been disposed of, and found three missing laptops that were not immediately reported.

“During our audit period, BHCC did not immediately report three missing laptops, with a total value of approximately $3,000, to OSA.”

“Fixed assets” means college property and equipment, such as computers and other items worth tracking, that should be listed, checked, and safeguarded.

“Does BHCC effectively safeguard its property and equipment in accordance with its policies and procedures?”