Newfield Central School District – IT Asset Management (S9-22-17)

Issued Date
March 16, 2023

[read complete report – pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether Newfield Central School District (District) officials appropriately tracked, inventoried and safeguarded information technology (IT) assets acquired or in use during the audit period.

Key Findings

District officials did not appropriately track or inventory IT assets, maintain complete IT inventory records or establish adequate controls to safeguard IT assets. As a result, officials cannot assure taxpayers that money invested in IT assets has been appropriately spent or safeguarded.

Of the 41 IT assets we selected to confirm their location and that they were inventoried, and 10 additional IT assets selected to confirm were inventoried, 25 percent of the sampled assets were not properly accounted for. Specifically:

  • One mini desktop computer ($982) and one laptop ($500) could not be located and were not inventoried, and one Chromebook (estimated cost of $288 based on similar purchases) could not be located but was inventoried.
  • Ten assets, including three interactive displays, two laptops, two iPads, two Chromebooks and one 3D printer with a total cost of approximately $14,410 were not inventoried.

In addition, annual inventories of all IT assets were not conducted and officials did not adopt a comprehensive written policy for IT equipment inventory.

Key Recommendations

  • Maintain complete, accurate and up-to-date inventory records.
  • Perform annual inventories.

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.