Frequently Asked Questions Of Office of Compliance Investigation
Investigations
Internal Audit
Criminal History Reviews
Single/Grant Audits
COMPLIANCE INVESTIGATION
Q. What entities does this office investigate?
A. All schools receiving support or aid from federal or state appropriations can be investigated. These include public school districts, private schools for the disabled and charter schools.
Q. How are investigations initiated?
A. Investigations can be initiated by a specific complaint or by a directive from the Commissioner.
Q. Can anyone initiate a complaint?
A. Yes, any interested party can initiate a complaint, as long as it is in writing.
Q. Are complaints kept confidential?
A. All complaints are kept strictly confidential and the complainant is never identified.
Q. What types of investigations are performed by this office?
A. Examples of investigations are bidding violations, overspent budgets, financial malfeasance, criminal history compliance and allegations of conflict of interest.
Q. What are compliance investigations?
A. Compliance investigations are reviews to determine if certain state statutes are being adhered to, such as bidding and criminal history statutes.
Q. What are probable outcomes of investigations?
A. There can be a finding that the charges are unwarranted. If there are findings, in the case of a bidding violation, for example, state aid can be withheld. There can also be a referral to another agency, such as the Division of Criminal Justice and the Election Law Enforcement Commission.
Q. Can the outcome of an investigation be appealed?
A. Yes. The first level of appeal is to the Director of the Office of Compliance Investigation. The next level is to the Commissioner. The State Board of Education is the final level.
Q. What are the major responsibilities of the Internal Audit Unit?
A. The Internal Audit Unit’s major responsibilities consist of reporting on the department’s internal controls, conducting internal audits of various offices and programs functioning within the department and coordinating audits and the resolution of audit findings by external auditors.
Q. What is the purpose of these internal audits?
A. The main purposes of these audits are as follows:
To ensure that the offices and divisions within the department are following policies and procedures prescribed by the department;
To verify existence and safeguarding of department’s assets; and
To ensure that proper internal controls are in place.
Q. On what basis does the department prescribe its policies and procedures?
A. The department prescribes its policies and procedures based upon OMB Circulars originated from the New Jersey Department of Treasury and rules and regulations Of United States Department of Education.
Q. What is internal control?
A. Internal control is a process effected by the department’s management, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding achievement of objectives in the following categories:
Effectiveness and efficiency of operations;
Reliability of financial reporting; and
Compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Q. How are audits selected?
A. Every year, during the month of April, the internal audit unit requests all managers to fill out a Vulnerability Assessment Questionnaire (VAQ). The audits are primarily selected based upon review of the answers provided in the VAQ. Also included are the internal audits that are mandated by the New Jersey Department of Treasury at regular intervals, such as petty cash and off-system funds.
Q. What type of audits are performed by the Internal Audit Unit?
A. The Internal Audit Unit primarily conducts financial and compliance reviews of departmental accounts, financial transactions and programs.
Q. What steps are normally included in a typical internal audit?
A. A typical internal audit includes the following eight steps:
Conduct a pre-audit survey.
Prepare an audit program.
Conduct an entrance conference.
Perform audit procedures (field work) based on the audit program.
Conduct exit conference.
Issue a draft report.
Issue a final report.
Review the auditee’s corrective action plan.
Q. What are the normal components of an internal audit report and to whose attention is the internal audit report issued?
A. The normal components of an internal audit report include:
Executive Summary.
Summary of Findings.
Findings and Recommendations.
Comments and Recommendations on Internal Controls.
A draft audit report is issued to the attention of Assistant Commissioner of the division or function being audited. A final report, along with the corrective action plan, is issued to the Chief of Staff.
Q. What is the cost of the LiveScan fingerprinting process for public school employment?
A. The fee is currently $63.00.
Q. What is the cost for nonpublic school employees?
A. Nonpublic schools are required to pay a $63.00 fee to the vendor, Sagem Morpho. But, they must also pay an administrative fee of $6.00 to the Department of Education when the nonpublic school submits the Transmittal, Roster and Applicant Authorization & Certification Form.
Q. How should payment be made?
A. One check is sufficient to cover the fee that is required by Sagem Morpho, State Bureau of Identification and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Q. Is a list of sites available to the public?
A. Sagem Morpho is responsible for designating the sites. This information is given to the applicant when he/she calls the toll-free number to make the appointment.
Q. Does the applicant call Sagem Morpho for the appointment?
A. Yes. English and Spanish-speaking applicants must call 1-877-503-5981. Hearing-impaired applicants should call 1-800-673-0353. The call for hearing-impaired must be placed from a telephone that is connected to a modem.
Q. Approximately how long is the turn-around time before the applicant is sent to Sagem Morpho?
A. Upon completion of the paperwork, the applicant may contact Sagem Morpho for an appointment to scan the fingerprints, and the district should immediately mail the necessary forms to the Criminal History Review Unit.
Q. What criteria are required to have Sagem Morpho send a mobile unit to a district or contractor site to fingerprint applicants.
A. The requirements are as follows:
There must be a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 40 applicants scheduled per day per technician;
The site must be capable of housing the Fingerprint Technician and his/her equipment (150 to 200 square feet per technician);
Appropriate furnishing, i.e. desk chairs must be in the waiting area;
Access to an analog telephone line for the purpose of transmitting data to the Sagem Morpho server; and
The site should be suitable for a business office environment. A suitable business environment allows for safe operation of computers and other electronic equipment. Items to be considered are heat, humidity and electric. Also, there must be parking in close proximity to the site.
Q.How does the district or contractor arrange for a mobile unit to respond?
A. The initial request should be made to the Sagem Morpho representative at 609-989-7000.
Q. When does the employer stop sending applicants to local law enforcement?
A. As of July 1, 2002, all applicants must be fingerprinted through Sagem Morpho.
Q. Will the money orders be going to Criminal History when an applicant gets printed or does the district collect the money?
A. When the applicant appears at the LiveScan Center to be printed, the applicant will pay the fee to the Sagem Morpho Technician. Payment may be made by personal check, money order or credit card.
Q. When the applicant is approved by the state, how will the district know, and how long will this process take?
A. The applicant will receive a letter with the raised seal of the State of New Jersey and the employer/district will continue to receive the computer print-out. The process should take approximately two weeks from when the applicant is fingerprinted.
Q. May districts/contractor still use the emergent hiring process?
A. Yes. If an applicant meets the criteria for emergent hiring and the employing educational facility can demonstrate an emergent need for that service, it may complete the emergent hiring form.
Q. What procedure should be followed during the interim period when fingerprint cards are rejected?
A. If the fingerprint cards were taken by a law enforcement agency using the "ink" method, the applicant must resubmit a new fingerprint card taken by the agency using the ink method. Do not set an appointment with Sagem Morpho, or the applicant will be charged a new fee.
Q. What procedure will be followed if the prints are rejected under the new LiveScan system?
A. We anticipate a highly reduced rejection rate using LiveScan fingerprinting. However, if the applicant’s fingerprints are rejected, they will be notified directly by Sagem Morpho personnel and a new appointment will be arranged.
Q. Districts/contractors were informed that Sagem Morpho would schedule an appointment for the applicant to be printed with 7 business days. Many applicants are told that the waiting period is 3 or more weeks.
A. As of August 14, 2002, Sagem Morpho has increased the number of incoming telephone lines to 48. Currently, 25 operators are on staff to handle the incoming calls, the number of technicians has increased to 34, and additional sites are opening. These additions should reduce the waiting time for scheduling an appointment and the length of time for the actual prints to be scanned. Applicants, who were given a three-or four-weeks waiting period to be printed, should call Sagem Morpho to inquire about the availability of an earlier date.
Q. What types of audits fall under this unit?
A.T he unit handles the following matters:
The department’s single audit function encompasses the requirements dictated by the federal government and the New Jersey Department of Treasury, Office of Management and Budget. The unit does not actually audit financial statements for accuracy, but reviews them for proper type, format, reporting and reconciliation to grant amounts carried in the state accounting system. The unit is also responsible for collecting all financial statements, corrective action plans and other documents dictated by law.
The Title I audit personnel audit the actual grants for compliance with the applicable law (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Improving America’s Schools Act and No Child Left Behind) and the governing Federal Circulars (OMB A-87, OMB A-133, EDGAR) and state policy, guidance and reporting requirements.
The Adult Basic Education/Vocational Education auditors audit the grants for compliance with state-approved budgets/spending, reporting requirements of both the state and federal governments and governing circulars and contract agreements.
The IDEA auditors audit the state’s 163 Private Schools for the Disabled to ensure compliance with the state’s fiscal requirements for the private schools and to insure that the sending districts are getting what they are paying for in the way of service. (This is a federal program because the federal government partially funds the needs of the district through a grant.)
Q. What happens to the monies recovered by the Unit (Title I, ABE, Voc-Ed, IDEA)?
A. When the unfortunate event happens and monies are due back to the state department, the individual programs receive the money and either redistribute it to other grant recipients or send it back to the respective federal program, if there is not time to spend the money. In the IDEA program, the sending districts are notified of the refund/current year off-set that they should receive based on the audit.
Q. What is the most common result of an audit?
A. The most common result is the filing of a Corrective Action Plan to prevent the problems from happening again.
Q. Why are these audits conducted in the first place?
Q. Most federal grants require some type of compliance and oversight function by the state agency that distributes the federal funds.
Q. How are audits selected?
TA. he audits are selected on a rotating basis of the grant recipients and size of the amounts received. In general there is a three-to four-year lapse between audit cycles
