The end of the school year is an important time for management as it usually marks the start of the annual inventory audit. Whether for a single classroom or an entire school, an inventory review is a time-consuming process that requires thoughtful strategic planning. To minimize the risk of errors, schools should automate the review process to avoid any major pitfalls that could undermine the accuracy of the entire practice.
End-of-year school audits provide a variety of benefits and help institutions prepare for the next semester by revisiting and revising key processes and their results. Regular audits enable schools to achieve the following benefits:
Determine the effectiveness of internal controls: Inventory audits emphasize an organization’s ability to keep financial records and track ownership. Significant discrepancies in the records indicate the need for extensive investigation to improve future processes.
Ensure compliance with regulatory practices: When it comes to complying with regulations, good record keeping and verified documentation are necessary. Annual audits enable schools to detect any data discrepancies before they become significant risks.
Identify potential cost savings: By providing a comprehensive analysis of school inventory, audits help highlight potential cost-saving opportunities, allowing managers to find and get rid of idle inventory and reduce storage costs.
How to prepare for a school audit?
A well-planned audit will streamline your school’s operations and help you secure new funding and minimize the risk of a data breach. According to recent research, 10 percent of school staff say cutting costs and budgets is a significant challenge. In order to use funds effectively, it is important to carefully prepare for the end-of-year school audit and ensure that every step is taken to make it a success. Here are some steps you can include in your school audit:
Make a schedule
Creating a schedule is a great way to have all the required information ready on time. While it’s a good idea to create a schedule, it’s best to leave some room for flexibility. Creating a review schedule can help you focus on all aspects and highlight activities that require additional attention.
When developing your plan, consider the level of automation involved throughout the audit process. For example, if a manual inventory is required, it’s better to start early, whereas an automated inventory system can make it easier to register the count and take less time.
Check inventory
One of the most important steps in the audit process is cross-checking physical school inventory with financial records. Regular audits can eliminate any discrepancies in inventory counts, making it easier to justify budget spend and predict future purchases. To ensure accurate results, selecting appropriate inventory reconciliation practices is critical. Let’s look at two common ways schools conduct inventory audits:
Physical count: Perhaps the most common and time-consuming method, a physical inventory involves manually comparing the school’s actual inventory to your records. Carrying a barcode scanner can help speed up the process and get more efficient results.
ABC analysis: As the name suggests, this method requires grouping inventory based on value. For example, high-value school inventory such as laptops and Chromebooks can be grouped together. The mid-value group can include USB drives and chargers, and the low-value group can include wires and cables.
Learn more: 5 Best Practices to Help You Optimize Your School Inventory System
Evaluate audit results
After completing a complete school inventory audit, the next step is to present and evaluate the results. When doing your analysis, it’s a good idea to have a baseline for performance comparison. In this case, refer to your educational institution’s previous audits and compare them to the current audit. Doing this will help you understand the reasons for any large differences.
Audit results can be a key factor in assessing overall education KPI achievement. These can include tracking inventory losses and adoption rates of new technology by students and teachers.
formulate future Strategy
The results of the inventory audit can be used as the basis for future management decisions in the school. Through the audit, you will be able to estimate average inventory levels, items that are lost or misplaced, and assets checked out to students. Access to this information can provide insight into ownership and usage trends. This data can be used to track why assets were lost and help you develop measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
For example, if you notice significant differences in inventory quantities, you can communicate the need for automated checkout for students and teachers. In order to reach all relevant faculty, staff and student groups, audit results should be presented in as constructive a manner as possible. Visual charts and tables get the job done more effectively than simply presenting lists and numbers.
Read more: 5 Ways to Improve School Asset Management for Your Institution
Secrets to a Successful Audit
According to OMB requirements, most academic institutions are required to submit audit reports in a timely manner. To avoid any major roadblocks in the audit process, schools should adhere to some best practices to achieve reliable results:
Define audit objectives:The first rule of thumb when organizing an audit for your educational institution is to understand the agenda or end goal you want to achieve. For example, if you want to create a budget report to present to stakeholders, then plan your audit with this objective in mind – first liaise with the relevant auditors, follow regulatory guidance and present the results in an appropriate manner to address stakeholders of concern.
Preparation Checklist: In order to complete the review on time, it is important to establish a checklist that can be shared with all relevant personnel (teachers, students, facilities managers, and IT departments). A schedule of any planned downtime can be shared with all parties to help minimize the impact on teaching and learning. Checklists make it easier for you to perform each task in order without missing any important steps.
Investment technology: Although manual inventory auditing is widely accepted and used, it is time-consuming and error-prone. An alternative to this approach would be to automate school recording of item usage. For example, an inventory management system allows faculty, students, and staff to log in when checking items. This practice helps maintain a traceable trail of operations that can be verified by auditors, thereby increasing the efficiency and accuracy of records.
School audits occur annually and require in-depth planning. In order for it to be successful, the management board should strive to learn from past experience and make improvements where necessary. It can be very helpful to review last year’s recommendations and take action. Conducting an after-school audit review can help streamline results and highlight valuable findings.
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