From Daily Planet Staff Reports

An annual audit — released June 8 — of UNC Asheville’s financial statements found three deficiencies, prompting UNCA officials to say that they will correct two of the three problems, and are in the process of fixing the third.

The audit covered fiscal 2008-09.

The audit, issued by the Office of the State Auditor, found that UNCA has inadequate internal control over access to information systems, reported inaccurate financial statements and inappropriately evaluated the remaining useful lives of capital assets.

For the first finding, the audit notes, “The university did not maintain adequate internal control over access to its information systems and date. This increases the risk of error or fraud. We identified seven information systems staff members with database access that gives them the ability to update, alter or remove financial data.”

The audit added that “the ability to access and change database information should be restricted to employees with the need to perform database administration functions.”

In their response, UNCA officials said that “management agrees with this finding and is implementing procedures to improve internal control ...”

For the second finding, the audit states, “The financial statements prepared by the university contained misstatements that were corrected as a result of our audit. Without these corrections, the financial statements could have been misleading to users.”

UNCA officials said they agreed with the second finding and will implement additional procedures and controls to ensure that the financial statements and the accompanying footnotes are accurate.

For the third finding, the audit report says, “The university did not appropriately evaluate and adjust the useful lives of its capital assets. As a result, the financial statements prepared by the university contained misstatements that were corrected as a result of our audit ... Correcting this error resulted in an increase in capital assets of $3,598,830  and an increase in current year depreciation expense of $130,622.”

In response to the third finding, UNCA officials said that “management reluctantly accepts this recommendation.” The university said software limitations and a vacancy in 2009 might have contributed to the problem, which now should be resolved.”