State Assessment of Internal Controls Final Report, May 2007

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F. Nevada

1. Review Team Process

The Nevada Welfare Division has an Administrator, three Deputy Administrators, and a number of Chiefs. The Child Care Director first looked at all of the tasks and then approached the Deputy Administrators and Chiefs of the various areas he felt should be involved. In some cases, the Chief participated directly, while in other areas the Chief delegated responsibility to others. Having all of the participants together at the site visit to decide who was most appropriate to answer a particular section was extremely valuable.

2. Benefits of the Instrument

The Nevada Project Team indicated that combining all of the documentation in a single document was helpful. Using the hyperlink rather than printing the complete set of documentation was beneficial because the link will route to the most current version of a document, as many policy documents are on a regular schedule for updates. The Nevada Project Team indicated that the Instrument could support many other activities within the entire organization.

3. Changes to the Instrument

The Nevada Project Team proposed the following changes to the Instrument:

• Revising the Instrument to reduce or eliminate redundancy; and
• Including a section specific to the child care program.

4. Recommendations

Nevada Project Team recommendations included:

• Planning a suitable timeframe for Instrument completion to avoid conflicts with other major initiatives;
• Ensuring top-down support. Engaged and supportive top management is critical for success in this project;
• Allowing 90 days to complete the Instrument;
• Allowing sufficient time to complete the process;
• Providing clear instructions;
• Having someone with sufficient authority to be in charge to e-mail and follow up when sections were due; and
• Reviewing and updating the Instrument every two years.

Posted January 31, 2008