APSU audit committee approves updated charter, auditing policy and revised FY25 audit plan; comptroller reports clean financial audit

The Austin Peay State University Audit Committee on a voice vote approved a revised Audit Committee Charter, updates to university Policy 1015 (Internal Auditing) and a revised Fiscal Year 2025 audit plan, committee members said at the meeting. The committee also heard an update from the Tennessee Comptroller's Office that auditors issued an unmodified opinion on the university's FY2024 financial statements and found no issues in the NCAA agreed-upon procedures engagement.

The approvals were presented by Blaine Clements, the university's chief audit officer, who told the committee "Tennessee law requires the office of internal audit to adhere to the institute of internal auditors' standards," noting the standards were substantively revised and that the charter and policy language were updated to reflect the new guidance. Tabitha Furlong, a legislative audit manager with the Comptroller's Office Division of State Audit, reported the office issued an unmodified opinion on the APSU financial statements and that "for fiscal year end 06/30/2024 audit, I'm happy to announce that there were no findings."

Why it matters: the charter and policy set expectations for the internal audit function and align APSU with new Institute of Internal Auditors standards required by Tennessee law; the comptroller's clean financial audit and the NCAA compliance review reduce near-term risk of formal audit findings and potential corrective actions.

The committee considered three action items. Clements explained the charter revisions mirror changes in external auditing standards and that the State Comptroller approved the charter on Dec. 9. The committee then approved the revised Audit Committee Charter "as written." Committee members next voted to approve revisions to Policy 1015, Internal Auditing; Clements said the new policy emphasizes a purpose statement and updates the reference to the changed external guidance. Finally, the committee approved a revised Fiscal Year 2025 audit plan. Clements told members the plan largely remained on course from the version the committee approved June 7, 2024, but staff swapped the timing of two audits: management's risk assessment for academic affairs was deferred until input from the incoming provost, and a risk assessment for finance and administration was added for the following year. Clements also said the office added an audit of the university's childcare learning center because the unit is expanding and presents a special risk profile.

Votes at a glance - Approve revised Audit Committee Charter (motion text: "approve the revised Audit Committee Charter as written"): approved by voice vote; mover/second not specified in the transcript; outcome: approved. Note: comptroller previously approved the charter on Dec. 9. - Approve revisions to Policy 1015, Internal Auditing (motion text: "approve the revisions to policy 1015 internal auditing as written"): approved by voice vote; mover/second not specified in the transcript; outcome: approved. - Approve Fiscal Year 2025 Revised Audit Plan (motion text: "approve the fiscal year 2025 revised audit plan as written"): approved by voice vote; mover/second not specified in the transcript; outcome: approved. The FY25 plan had been approved previously on 06/07/2024; the revision swaps a timing for an academic-affairs risk assessment and adds a childcare learning center audit.

Information items presented to the committee included a report from the Tennessee Comptroller's Office and several internal audit updates. Tabitha Furlong said the comptroller's office performed two engagements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024: a financial-statement audit performed in accordance with AICPA standards and Government Auditing Standards (the Yellow Book) and an agreed-upon-procedures engagement for NCAA compliance. She reported the auditors "issued an unmodified opinion" on the university's FY2024 financial statements (report issued 01/29/2025) and issued the NCAA procedures report on 01/13/2025; she said "no issues were noted" for the NCAA engagement.

Clements also reviewed the internal audit office's recent work. He said the office issued a clean enrollment-data report that verified the accuracy of data used by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission for funding. He described a list of outstanding audit recommendations and said one remaining issue was being worked on and likely to be resolved by June. Clements described a client satisfaction survey the office began after he took the role; he said survey results and requests led the office to offer training for supervisors who approve credit card transactions, and that the sessions have been attended by more than 60% of supervisors so far.

During discussion, committee members thanked the audit staff for proactive work to reduce risk. No formal dissent or recorded roll-call votes were captured in the transcript; actions were completed by voice vote as shown above. The meeting adjourned after the information items and brief remarks of appreciation.