State audit cites Wichita State ERP approvals and p‑card controls; university outlines fixes and staffing review

Wichita State officials briefed the Regents’ Fiscal Affairs & Audit Committee on three findings from the state’s 2024 audit and described corrective actions.

University representatives said the state auditors found two related issues in journal entry approvals: the Banner ERP system was configured so that users who both enter and approve journal entries could have those entries auto‑approved, and the university lacked a written policy describing how to manage individuals outside central finance who retain approval authority. David Miller said IT staff are testing a configuration change to require a separate approver and that a roles and training policy for approvers is being drafted with an expected completion timeline of about a month.

The audit also cited purchasing‑card (p‑card) reconciliations that were untimely and in a few cases lacked supporting documentation. Miller said Wichita State has a robust p‑card policy aligned with the state’s rules and that central accounts will more vigorously enforce reconciliation timing and documentation standards. He added that the university’s budget has grown substantially in recent years, driven largely by research growth, and that central finance staffing has not scaled at the same rate — a capacity issue the campus will examine as part of corrective work.

Regents and staff said they will follow up with the state audit firm and expect to see progress reported in future audit cycles.