Stay on Top of Your Perkins Grant: Surviving Monitoring Visits and Audits May 2009 Renee Kuharski, Ph.D. Colorado Mountain College

Goal of Session is to: Provide information and details on how to organize your Perkins grant. What is an audit? What is the monitoring objective?

Get & Stay Organized! Develop a system that works for you and your institution or school Ask yourself, how does my state reimburse? Start there.

Keep EVERYTHING! Award documents All s, memos etc. [example; requests for out of state travel] Back up of all expenditures [order form, Purchase Order, packing slip, invoice, copy of check sent] Any additional backup data

Back up of all expenditures

Develop a system… Perkins Program Campus Request Form Campus Perkins Request & Prioritization Form CMC Perkins Grant Ordering Instructions Perkins Grant Order Form Perkins Tracking Form

Secondary Consortium Process Schools meet to determine how they – as a group will allocate their funds. Representatives come prepared to meeting with their schools prioritize requests from their approved CTE programs »Determine Objectives based on the 5 and 1 year plans »Estimate of cost of each activity

Secondary process Each school follows their individual purchasing policies Tracking is key in this process! Reconciliation is similar to the college process.

Okay, so why is this important? Why keep all this “stuff”?

Audits and lions and tigers and monitoring bears oh my…

Lessons learned from an audit Track not only the financial Keep documentation of professional development activities Time and Effort (time sheets)

Monitoring Objective To provide reasonable assurance that proper records are maintained for equipment acquired with Federal awards, equipment is adequately safeguarded and maintained, disposition or encumbrance of property is in accordance with Federal requirements, and the Federal awarding agency is appropriately compensated for its share of any property sold or converted to non-Federal use.

Colorado’s Perkins Monitoring Criteria Institutions Policies and Procedures Financials Career & Technical Education Opportunities Student Employment and Training Facilities Institutional Employment Opportunities

Policies and Procedures Items required: Organizational chart How we track our expenditures Procurement policies Equipment inventory Job Descriptions for all employees who deal with the Perkins grant Local Plan and year end analysis

Financial exhibits Items required: Time and Effort reports A-133 audit Vouchers for reimbursement Documentation of expenditures less than $5,000 Documentation of expenditures over $5,000

Career & Technical Education Opportunities Items required: Examples of professional development. Post-Secondary sponsored staff development. Professional Development plans for CTE teachers Strategic plan of institution

Student Employment and Training Items required: Work-based learning Roster of participants in Cooperative or work based learning

Facilities Items required: Physical facility layout (Map) specifically where CTE programs are located. Construction Remodel and expansion

Employment Opportunities Items required: Human Resources Policies and procedures Criteria used to evaluate employees for promotion and or tenure. Salary scale CTE staff development plan Institution staff development plan Copies of 4 individuals professional growth plan ~ faculty

WHY Toto, why? OMB Circulars

Edgar Part 80 (80.20 b6) Standards for Financial Management Systems Fiscal Control: (6) source documentation Edgar Part 76, (76.304) (76.730) Sub-grantee shall make sub- grant application (local plan) available to the public EDGAR (Education Department General Administrative Regulations)

OMB (OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET) Circulars OMB A-21 (Colleges) Cost Principles for Educational Institutions OMB A-87 (school districts and Colleges) Cost Principles for State, Local and Indian Tribal Governments OMB A-133 Part 6 A/B Allowable and Unallowable activities OMB A-133 Part 6 F Equipment and Real Property Management OMB A-133 Part 6 I Procurement and Suspension and Debarment OMB A-133 Part 6 L Reporting

Plan ahead and prepare This begins with the award letter! Track everything you do! Stay organized through documentation! Communicate with your business office, grants office, etc. Communicate your program and student successes internally and externally.

Resources

Questions??? Renee Kuharski, Ph.D. Dean of Career & Technical Education Colorado Mountain College