NORTH ADAMS — State officials are telling Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts administrators to do a better job keeping track of their stuff.
In an audit report released Wednesday, state Auditor Suzanne M. Bump determined that MCLA doesn’t keep track of some of its property and equipment, risking “misuse.”
The audit, which examined the period of July 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2019, also showed that MCLA was not overseeing its procurement cards, which are used for incidental purchases.
A previous audit of MCLA, from 2016, found similar issues with inventory tracking and purchase policies.
“Time and again, our office has found issues at higher education institutions across the Commonwealth regarding inventory tracking and oversight of the procurement process,” Bump said in a statement.
“The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has not made improvements since our last audit and must be more diligent in its oversight in these areas which are critical elements to protecting against property misuse and project oversight. Although MCLA has a ways to go, I am encouraged by the college’s response to our audit and the initial steps they’ve taken.”
Gina Puc, vice president for strategic initiatives at MCLA, said this is a routine issue that the school is moving to correct.
“These audit findings are not atypical for higher education,” Puc said in a statement released Wednesday. “MCLA takes seriously the results from the State Auditor’s Office and corrective measures have already been put into place to address these findings.”
The audit showed that MCLA did not track its inventory of furniture and equipment by properly tagging assets, adding assets to its inventory list or conducting annual physical inventories.
Of the 20 invoices and items reviewed, 13 (valued at $27,604) were missing locations and 10 had didn’t have accurate or complete information. The audit recommended that MCLA perform annual physical inventories and identify additional staff members to help with the process.
The audit also showed that MCLA did not verify that procurement card accounts were tracked or that expenses were approved properly or supported by documentation — cardholders did not submit procurement card logs to their supervisors, which is required under the college’s own policy.
MCLA officials told the auditor’s office that the college is addressing these issues.
Past audits of Northern Essex Community College and Massachusetts Bay Community College found similar issues related to inventory tracking and procurement card oversight.
MCLA is a member of the Massachusetts public higher education system, which consists of 15 community colleges, nine state universities and five University of Massachusetts campuses. As of fall 2019, MCLA had 1,345 undergraduate and 162 graduate students.
The college received appropriations of $16,888,607 in fiscal year 2019 and $17,695,143 in fiscal year 2020 from the state.
