Their schedules showed the students should have been in class when their federal work-study timecards showed they were on the job. That discrepancy caught the attention of auditors at Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, who reported a “significant deficiency” in that area of internal control at Barton Community College.
“That’s a no-no with federal financial aid,” Certified Public Accountant Vickie Dreiling with ABBB told trustees as she gave the audit report on Tuesday.
The good news is, the amount of money involved was small and Vice President Mark Dean has already taken corrective actions.
“It was very immaterial as to the dollar amount we’re talking about,” Dreiling said. “We did cite it; I think Mark has already taken care of the issue.” His corrective action plan — actually the work of several individuals, Dean said — must be submitted to the federal agency.
There was more good news. Barton received “unqualified” audit opinions for Fiscal Year 2017, which ended on June 30. An unqualified or clean opinion is an independent auditor’s judgment that a company’s financial records and statements are fairly and appropriately presented.
The trustees approved the audit and expressed satisfaction with the results. They thanked staff who attended Tuesday’s board meeting for all of the work that leads to an unqualified audit.
“We appreciate that you work so hard,” Trustee Gary Burke said to the group.
“Good report,” Trustee Leonard Bunselmeyer said.
“It is a good report,” Dreiling said. She said the Barton Community College Foundation audit also went well this year.

Purpose
According to board materials, the primary goal of an audit is to express an independent opinion on two aspects of the financial statements of the college: are the statements fairly presented and are they in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles?
“By auditing our operations, we perform the ‘due diligence’ review for our shareholders. Administrative procedures may be changed as a result of an audit to make sure that the college is functioning well and complying with a multitude of regulations,” board materials stated. The college is required to provide its annual audit of the state and federal government, Kansas Board of Education, Department of Education, all lending institutions with which BCC has financing, and for grant applications.

Coach, other business
The board of trustees also heard reports from the faculty council and discussed plans to travel to Topeka in January for their annual meeting with area legislators. The timing may be later than usual because it is not known when Gov. Sam Brownback plans to give his State of the State address.
The board approved hiring Alyssa Jean as a part-time assistant care provider, Chelsea Mitchell as a marketing strategist and Tara O’Callaghan as a part-time data specialist for student support services.
Assistant Softball Coach Tyler Gunelson was named head softball coach and his contract was approved. Barton President Carl Heilman said Gunelson took over for Coach Joel Prickett “who left without advance notice” and he has done a good job. “His leadership is paying off.”