IT Asset Management (2022-MS-2)

Issued Date

March 16, 2023

Audit Objective

Determine whether officials in 20 school districts (Districts) appropriately tracked, inventoried and safeguarded information technology (IT) assets acquired or in use during the audit period.

Key Findings

Officials from the 20 Districts audited did not always appropriately track or inventory IT assets, maintain complete IT inventory records or establish adequate controls to safeguard IT assets.

We selected 1,155 IT assets to confirm they were inventoried; 945 of these were also tested to determine whether they could be located. We found 22 percent of these IT assets costing about $279,270 were not properly accounted for. Specifically, 11 percent, including 81 Chromebooks, could not be located and 15 percent were not inventoried.

None of the 20 Districts implemented policies or procedures specific for IT equipment inventory.
Nineteen Districts did not inventory all IT assets or conduct annual inventories.
Seventeen Districts could not locate all IT assets.
Eight Districts did not have adequate physical controls to protect IT assets from damage.
Costs for nearly 75,400 IT assets and acquisition dates for approximately 62,000 IT assets were not recorded in the IT asset inventory records Districts maintained.
About 4,400 inventoried IT assets had missing or duplicated serial numbers and approximately 4,800 IT assets were missing locations or employees assigned.

As a result, officials exposed the approximately $21.8 million investment in IT assets made during the audit period to potential theft, loss or misuse.

Key Recommendations

Maintain complete and accurate inventory records.
Establish controls to safeguard IT assets.