Universities

Annual financial and compliance reports: State and federal laws require Arizona universities to receive annual financial and compliance audits, resulting in these required reports:

• Comprehensive Annual Financial Report includes our opinion on the reported financial information’s reliability. 

• Report on Internal Control and on Compliance includes any findings we reported over financial reporting and explains our responsibilities.

Our Highlights summarize these reports.

The results of our audits of the university federal financial assistance programs are included in the State of Arizona’s annual Single Audit Report.

Annual financial and compliance reports: State and federal laws require Arizona universities to receive annual financial and compliance audits, resulting in these required reports:

• Comprehensive Annual Financial Report includes our opinion on the reported financial information’s reliability. 

• Report on Internal Control and on Compliance includes any findings we reported over financial reporting and explains our responsibilities.

Our Highlights summarize these reports.

The results of our audits of the university federal financial assistance programs are included in the State of Arizona’s annual Single Audit Report.

Annual financial and compliance reports: State and federal laws require Arizona universities to receive annual financial and compliance audits, resulting in these required reports:

• Comprehensive Annual Financial Report includes our opinion on the reported financial information’s reliability. 

• Report on Internal Control and on Compliance includes any findings we reported over financial reporting and explains our responsibilities.

Our Highlights summarize these reports.

The results of our audits of the university federal financial assistance programs are included in the State of Arizona’s annual Single Audit Report.

Annual financial and compliance reports: State and federal laws require Arizona universities to receive annual financial and compliance audits, resulting in these required reports:

• Comprehensive Annual Financial Report includes our opinion on the reported financial information’s reliability. 

• Report on Internal Control and on Compliance includes any findings we reported over financial reporting and explains our responsibilities.

Our Highlights summarize these reports.

The results of our audits of the university federal financial assistance programs are included in the State of Arizona’s annual Single Audit Report.

Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University (NAU), and the University of Arizona (UA) have implemented several information technology (IT) security practices consistent with IT standards and best practices, but these practices can be improved. Specifically, relatively few university employees were susceptible to auditors’ simulated social engineering attacks, but some employees took actions that could have provided an attacker with access to sensitive data, indicating a need to improve security awareness training. In addition, although the universities’ security controls limited auditors’ attempts to gain unauthorized access to their IT systems, auditors were able to exploit some vulnerabilities to access sensitive data. The universities should enhance their existing policies and procedures in five key areas to further reduce these potential vulnerabilities. Further, each university has established components of an IT security governance framework, but NAU and UA should continue to develop and implement their frameworks. The Arizona Board of Regents should also expand its oversight of the universities’ IT security efforts. Finally, each university can improve its data classification processes, and NAU and UA...

The State’s universities—Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU), and the University of Arizona (UA)—have established goals and appropriate strategies for improving student retention and graduation rates and can further enhance these efforts by more consistently evaluating their strategies and improving their strategic plans. The Arizona Board of Regents worked with the universities to establish student retention and graduation goals for each university to meet by 2025, and all three universities have developed multiple strategies that may help them achieve these goals by addressing common obstacles students face to staying in school and graduating in a timely manner. However, the universities’ evaluations of these strategies did not always address important evaluation components. Therefore, they should develop and implement university-wide guidance to more consistently evaluate their student retention and graduation strategies that aligns with program evaluation best practices. In addition, although the universities’ strategic plans include some best practice components, they should better align their strategic plans with their student retention and graduation goals and strategic-planning best practices.

Although the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and the State’s universities—Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU), and the University of Arizona (UA)—have established some fee-setting processes that generally align with best practices that help to promote transparency and accountability, they should further enhance these processes. ABOR has statutory authority to set tuition and fees and has established policies and guidance that the universities must follow when setting fees. ASU, NAU, and UA have also developed some fee-setting policies and processes that are consistent with fee-setting standards and guidelines to guide their implementation of ABOR fee-setting policies and guidance and additional internal review and approval processes for establishing class fees that are $100 or less. However, ASU, NAU, and UA should further ensure that class fee revenues are used for approved purposes and address instances of noncompliance with existing fee-setting policies and procedures auditors identified. In addition, ABOR, ASU, NAU, and UA should enhance their fee-setting processes to further align them with fee-setting standards and guidelines.