Workshop/Presentation Schedule:

June 26, 2008 - "Presentation to University Relations and Community Affairs Division" April 30, 2008 - "Presentation to COED Admin Staff" April 17, 2008 - "Presentation to COEN Admin Staff" March 4, 2008 - "A Presentation from Your Internal Audit Department" (Presentation to Research Administrators) February 12, 2008 - "How to Avoid a Surprise Visit from Internal Audit" (Human Resources Workshop) January 15, 2008 - "Presentation to CCI Admin Group" October 24, 2007 - "Tips and Notes from your Internal Audit Department" (Presentation to Acad. Affairs Business Managers) October 16, 2007 - "How to avoid an (unexpected) visit from the Internal Auditor"  (Human Resources Workshop) September 19, 2007 - "Presentation to Dept. Chairs - Self Assessment Tools" February 15, 2007 - "Review of Time and Attendance Procedures" (Administrative Forum) November 10, 2006 - "How to Avoid a Surprise Visit from Internal Audit" (Presentation to Department Chairs) November 8, 2006 - "Privacy Compliance" (Presentation to COAS IT Staff) November 1, 2006 - "How to Avoid a Surprise Visit from Internal Audit" (Human Resources Workshop)

Useful Links:

UNCC Policy Statements UNCC Personnel Information Memoranda Office of the State Auditor

Campus News Publications:

May 7, 2008

Reminder on University Web sites Using the World Wide Web as a communication tool can help reach many different audiences. Employees who plan to use a University resource to create and/or host a Web site should refer to the provisions in policy statements No. 8, 20 and 66. For questions regarding how to create a Web site, consult the ITS Help Desk. Employees who have questions about the policy statements should contact their supervisors, who can consult the Internal Audit Department or the Office of the General Counsel.

April 30, 2008

Reminder about University’s ethical culture and internal controls Corporate financial scandals, such as Enron or WorldCom, elicit questions as to how such crises could happen. Weren’t there internal controls in place to prevent them? While in most cases there are controls, a lack of ethical culture by management renders such internal controls ineffective. Internal controls and an ethical climate must be present to prevent fraud within an organization. To learn more about the University’s internal controls, click here for a short presentation by the Internal Audit Department.

April 16, 2008

Reporting suspected fraud/misuse Tips are the major method by which work-related fraud was detected, according to the 2006 annual report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Forty percent of the initial fraud reports resulted from a tip by a concerned employee as compared to 20 percent detected by internal audit. North Carolina General Statute 126-84 creates an obligation for state employees to report instances of suspected fraud, waste or abuse. Employees can report suspected criminal activity to the Police and Public Safety Department at ext. 7-2200 and suspected fraud or abuse to the Internal Audit Department at ext. 7-2180 or the state auditor hotline 800-730-TIPS (8477).

January 9, 2008

New Year’s resolution – clean out those files It’s a new year, and the Internal Audit Department suggests that one of the first tasks for every University administrative office (after putting away holiday decorations) should be to review general office files against UNC Charlotte retention policies. The most recent University General Schedule describes the types of files to maintain and provides retention/destruction/archive guidance. Madeleine Perez, University archivist, is available to answer questions about which files should be kept or shredded. To contact Perez, call ext. 7-3595 or e-mail mbperez@uncc.edu. "Very few of our documents require long-term retention, and many have a very short shelf life," said Thomas York, director of internal audit. "Save space in your desks and file cabinets by routinely reviewing what you have against the general schedule."

October 31, 2007

Internal audit compliance tip Thinking of signing a contract? Before doing so, read University Policy Statement No. 35. The University has established guidelines for signing contracts in order to ensure proper review of these obligations beforehand. The Internal Audit Department recently has found several instances of contracts signed by unauthorized individuals. Failure to observe the requirements of the policy may result in personal liability on the contract or individual responsibility for the representations made. For more information, check the University Purchasing Manual or call the Internal Audit Department at ext. 7-2180

August 8, 2007 & June 13, 2007

FERPA: What do I need to know? With a new semester on the horizon, new students, new faculty and new staff are on the way. Here’s a refresher regarding FERPA. • What - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. • Who – Anyone who has access to or contact with student personal and academic data. • Why - Education is our business and privacy is our responsibility. • Where - To learn more, click here.

May 16, 2007

Secondary (outside) employment Many of our fellow employees supplement their university paycheck with a second job, or have a personal business, such as operating as an independent sales representative for a company, after normal working hours and/or on weekends.  If you are one of these employees, or a supervisor of one of these employees, it is recommended that you review the University policy on secondary employment.  For EPA employees, Policy Statement #1 is the reference; while for SPA employees, your guidelines are in Policy Statement #88.  These permission requirements are intended to ensure that any outside employment does not have an adverse effect on the employee’s employment obligations to the university or create a conflict of interest. If you have any questions about secondary employment, please discuss them with your supervisor. The Human Resources Department (ext. 7-2276) or The Office of General Counsel (ext. 7-2553) are available to assist supervisors with any questions they may have.

May 2, 2007

Avoid a surprise visit from Internal Audit The best way to avoid a surprise visit from Internal Audit is to prepare and submit timely, accurate, authenticated weekly timesheets. For all employees required to complete timesheets (those subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act), be certain that timesheets include actual time worked, holiday time, vacation leave, sick leave, compensatory time, and others, totaling 40 hours per week. Any hours in excess of 40 hours are properly documented and approved as either overtime or compensatory time. Timesheets must be signed by the employee, approved by their actual supervisor and maintained in a central location in the department.  The Internal Audit Department presents a training session each semester that covers time and attendance as well as other "hot topics." Check the online Human Resources training catalog for more details. Click here to find more UNC Charlotte polices concerning time and attendance.

April 25, 2007

Fraud, waste and abuse reporting contacts Have you spotted what you think may be fraud, waste or abuse on campus? Call the University Internal Audit Office at ext. 7-2180 or the State Auditor’s Hotline toll-free at (800) 730-TIPS.

January 31, 2007

New computer? What to do with the old one Some of us received a new computer this year. But what happened to the old one? If you sent it to the surplus warehouse, did you clean and clear the hard drive before it left? Identity theft is an almost everyday occurrence, and surplus university computers can be a goldmine if proper steps are not taken before they leave your area. Was the computer trickled down to someone else in the office? Make sure any information to which the new user should not have access is removed and the machine is re-registered and re-imaged, either through your local IT staff or ITS Desktop Support. Have questions? Contact your local IT staff or send an e-mail to the ITS Help Desk.

January 17, 2007

Time to update our Business Continuity Plans Over the last few months, there has been a lot of movement on campus of departments and people. Now is a good time to dust off our Business Continuity Plans (BCP) and update them. New buildings will have new evacuation plans and floor monitors; new personnel may have assumed new roles; and new programs may need to be addressed in the recovery portion of the plans. Check out the Business Continuity Planning Web site for more information on BCP plans and tools.

January 10, 2007

Records retention and e-mails Did you know that your e-mail files are considered public records and are to be maintained according to state record retention standards, the same standards that we use for our paper files?  E-mail is being used more and more to communicate policy decisions, revised procedures and management directives, all of which need to be preserved under published guidelines. Clearly, not all our e-mail is subject to retention; however, do you know which ones you should keep and which ones to delete? The same goes for all your paper files, too. Click here to access an e-mail guideline checklist. For more information on records retention standards, contact our University Archivist, Madeleine Perez, at ext. 7-3595 or e-mail mbperez@email.uncc.edu.

  2006 Campus News Archives (click to view the following articles)