Faculty of Education and Humanities

Master Of Educational Leadership & Management

School Financial Management and Control ( ESEM5554 )

NO GROUP MEMBERS MATRIC NUMBER

1. KAVITHA A/P SUBRMANIAM MC210914896
2. MAD SAIPON NIZAR BIN ZAINON MC210915139
3. YOGESWARI A/P ARUMUGAM MC210914412
4. GRACE A/P JOSEPH MC210915130

FORUM DISCUSSION 2

Why is an audit checklist important in school financial management?

Financial management is important in the management of an organization which involves much

needed accountability. Quality audit reports can increase public accountability to achieve
financial management excellence. At the school level, government, private, and international
schools to have proper budget allocation to strengthen the teaching and learning process and
assist school financial management to improve their skills on financial field. Financial
management needs to be administered efficiently and prudently, so that finances can be
adequately obtained, spent, and managed in accordance with the correct procedures and can
meet the objectives of the organization.

The importance of audit checklist is intended to help schools to review their level of internal
control with a view to assessing the likelihood/impact of any risk arising from controls
not being in place. The checklist may be considered on an annual basis to assist Governors to
complete the Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS).

The audit checklist will help your audits address the necessary requirements. It stands as a
reference point before, during and after the audit process and if developed for a specific audit
and used correctly will provide the following benefits such as ensures the audit is conducted
systematically and promotes audit planning. The purpose of audit checklist is to assess the
effectiveness of financial management of an organization, quality, and its overall
performance. Hence, the audit checklist also demonstrate compliance with school financial
management how its processes are implemented and maintained.

A part from that, an organization will likely conduct audit checklist to explore opportunities for
improvement. If a school had a deficiency in financial audits in the past year, then the school
can improve financial resources in the future by preparing a proper audit checklist. Financial
efficiently management in a school is the best way to measure a goal is by setting milestones. In
other hand, by having audit checklist, the members of school financial management also able to
determine their strengthen and weakness. Since the concept of authority in financial
management goes hand to hand with the concept of responsibility, the members will be able to
overcome their weakness such as planning, reporting procedures and leadership in managing
the financial by attending some courses. So, this opportunity molds the members to organize
the school financial in better way.

Besides that, conducting a proper audit checklist is strong evidence in managing school
financial resources. The financial checklist of a school contains all the details about the
school’s finances such as date, checked by whom and details of financial expenses to arising
after the audit as well. Therefore, an organization’s audit checklist should be kept as an
evidence for future reference.

As we know that school financial management is a broad field of study that touches on many
disciplines as part of the education system, checklist plays an important role as an evidence to
proof that all the documents regarding on school financial is up to date. Checklist always
assists and monitors the members to avoid any forgeries and fraud in the management. It will
alert the members to keep a record of funds received and spent by school and its assets,
liabilities, and financial transactions. This will help the school to get the best grade in audit
report.

Main features of an audit checklist

There are few main features of an audit checklist which are:

Systematic process- Auditing involves systematic and examination records of business and
account books. For example, original receipts or other appropriate documentation such as
vouchers, etc. of Petrol & Toll Charges, Building Maintenance, or any payment made has to be
attached to support the charges or payment made.
Three party relationship- Shareholders, managers, and auditors are three parties involved. In an
education institute, the identified faculty and staff member by the department are given the
authorization to sign documents either in paper form or electronic.

Subject matter- Data, systems, or processes and behavior are subject matters that can differ
considerably, and auditors gives assurance on these subject matters. For example, tracing loss or
misappropriation of funds by the responsible individual can be done when documentation and
procedures are sufficient.

Established Criteria- Established criteria which includes Malaysian Approved Standards on

Auditing (MASA), International Standards of Auditing, etc. are used to evaluate the evidence.

Opinion- The expression of an opinion as to the reasonable assurance on the financial statements
of the entity must be done by the auditor. The income and expenses transactions are reconciled
monthly.

In summary, the objectives of the audit checklist to refer to the security of the information and
systems, the protection of the personal data, access to some databases with an informational
sensitive character are influenced by the audit features.

REFERENCES

Ministry of Education (1991). Primary School Professional Management Handbook, Kuala

Lumpur.

Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (2000), Tatacara Pengurusan Kewangan dan

Perakaunan Sekolah, Bahagian Kewangan Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.

Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (1994). Garis Panduan Perakaunan dan Kewangan

Sekolah,Kuala Lumpur,DBP.