OAR Risk Assessments

OAR provides risk assessments and assists units with establishing recurring risk measurement and exception reporting practices. OAR has defined measures and performs sponsored project oversight at varying levels including Central Sponsored Project Offices, Department/Collegiate, Principal Investigator, and Transactional.

Risk Summary Report

Intent and Purpose

The Risk Summary report is intended as an internal management tool. The report's purpose is to provide managerial information that will assist departments and colleges with the monitoring of their sponsored projects. The report is organized by key performance measurement areas and contains summarized results of exception items (compliance risks) relating to sponsored projects. Additional detail, as well as up-to-date financial data, is available through the Financial Reports on the Web: http://financial.reports.umn.edu or directly through the data warehouse.

Risk Summary Report Resources

This report, like many reports, is "point-in-time" information. It is recommended that you follow the same information over a period of time to further identify significant trends or patterns. The following resources were developed to assist with this ongoing review:

• Risk Summary Report Template (Excel file)
• Risk Summary Report Tip Sheet
• Risk Summary Report Common Finding

Transaction Assessments

Intent and Purpose

OAR performs a review of randomly selected financial transactions on a monthly basis.  Documents chosen will target high-risk or questionable object code categories.  The following resource was developed to assist with this monthly review:

• Transaction Review Checklist

Additional assessment resources

These are used in the ongoing review and maintenance of OAR assessments:

• Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) Publications:
  • Managing Externally Funded Research Programs: A Guide to
    Effective Management Practices (2005)
    
• Department of Audits
  • Most Common Findings and Recommendations