Financial controls lacking in some post-secondaries

NorQuest College and Northern Lakes College are among the post-secondary institutions to have been found to lack basic financial controls according to a recent report undertaken by the Auditor General of Alberta. Also found to lack basic financial controls were Grant MacEwan University, Alberta College of Art and Olds College. The report explains the control deficiencies related to internal controls such as financial reporting, enterprise risk management and endowment management. “This is a report card on financial controls at Alberta’s post-secondary institutions,” said Auditor General Merwan Saher, in a news release. “These institutions spend approximately $4.5 billion annually to educate Albertans and help build a knowledge-based economy.” There are 15 recommendations in the report, 13 of which are new and two are repeated recommendations from previous reports.