Office of Minority Affairs
Internal Control Structure

Overview

As a major public institution, The Ohio State University is held to a high level of accountability for its business practices. Such accountability requires the university to maintain sound financial records according to state law and generally accepted accounting principles. It also requires that Ohio State fulfill to the utmost its obligations to the many groups that provide it with funding.

Because the Office of Minority Affairs (OMA) reports directly to the Office of Academic Affairs which is held to an even higher level of accountability within the institution, OMA’s accountability is also held at a higher level. Accordingly this means that every reasonable effort must be made to ensure that funds are used in a manner which is consistent with the university's mission, applicable laws and ethical practice.

This Internal Control Structure (ICS) document applies to all OMA financial and human resource policies and procedures. Individual fund restrictions imposed by donors, granting agencies and other resource providers may further limit allowable expenditures. Additional restrictions may also apply to expenditures charged to sponsored projects administered by the OSU Research Foundation.

The following policies and processes will be immediately effective and implemented to ensure that OMA is in compliance with the university policy and segregation of duty standards. This will provide clarity of responsibilities, explain the entire process from beginning to end, facilitate smooth, efficient and effective processing and ensure policy compliance. This document has been reviewed and approved by the Vice Provost and the Office of Academic Affairs.

OMA will conduct an annual review of expenditure and human resource process compliance per unit. These reviews will be used to verify that there is compliance with current university policy and that each unit is following the policy as set forth in the OMA ICS. The expectation is that each unit receive green lights, therefore a yellow or red light on any process during the review will put the unit in a watch status for that process and the unit will have 60 days to make corrections. A unit in watch status will be required to meet with the Vice Provost or his appointee to review and discuss progress toward compliance. If the unit fails to correct the noncompliance in a timely manner, or the noncompliance is considered egregious enough, the Vice Provost may place the unit in oversight status. A unit in oversight status will meet with the Vice Provost appointee on a regular basis. The Vice Provost will then appoint someone or will personally assume a decision-making role in correcting noncompliance issues.

Detailed information about all of the expectations and requirements above may be found in the linked pdf. The Office of Minority Affairs must comply with the policies and procedures that are set forth in this ICS document.