State University of New York

University at Stony Brook: Controls Over Selected Payroll Practices (Follow-Up Report)

In audit 2007-S-67, we identified significant control weaknesses in certain University payroll practices. For example, because of delays in reporting payroll changes, terminated employees were able to obtain paychecks they were not entitled to. In other instances, employees may have been overpaid through deliberate abuses. We determined that a total of $414,236 in payroll overpayments were made during a single one-year period to 335 different individuals, and $234,254 in overpayments were outstanding at the time of our audit,. We also identified weaknesses in controls over overtime, including questionable scheduling practices that led to large overtime payments (e.g., one individual was paid for 121.5 hours of overtime during one two-week period). We recommended that a number of improvements be made in the University’s payroll practices, and when we followed up on these matters, we found that our audit recommendations had been implemented.

For a complete copy of Report 2010-F-22 click here.