Section 3
AUDITORS WORKING AT STANFORD
Auditors at Stanford can be grouped on the basis of their organizational affiliation. You may encounter:
- auditors from sponsors and funding agencies, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and other federal organizations
- external certified public accountants, including the firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, L.L.P. (C&L), Stanford University's independent public accountant
- members of the Stanford University Internal Audit Department
- FEDERAL AUDITORS
- The federal government sponsors a great deal of research and instruction at Stanford and provides considerable additional funding in the form of student grants and loans. As a result, federal agencies have legitimate audit interests which are defined in the provisions of award documents. The agency that is responsible for establishment of indirect cost rates for all federal agencies sponsoring work at Stanford is the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Most federal audits are conducted by the DCAA, which is the audit organization of the Department of Defense (DoD). DCAA maintains an office on the Stanford campus. While DCAA's primary focus is on DoD contracts and grants and direct and indirect costs, other federal sponsors, including NASA, NIH, and NSF, may also rely on DCAA to perform audits related to their funding.
- OTHER SPONSOR AUDITORS
- Occasionally, other federal sponsors will perform their own audits at Stanford rather than retain DCAA. In addition, visits from auditors representing the State of California are not uncommon. Non-government sponsors also retain the right to send auditors to Stanford, although they rarely do.
- INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
- Stanford regularly contracts with external Independent Public Accounting firms to perform several types of audits. Since 1991, the firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Andersen & Company, L.L.P. (AA&Co) have performed projects in the capacity of both independent auditors and management consultants. Some of these audits have been required by federal regulations, and some are carried out in conjunction with federal auditors.
- STANFORD INTERNAL AUDITORS
- The Internal Audit Department (IAD) is staffed by Stanford employees. IAD's office is in the 651 Serra Building. The Director of Internal Audit reports to the Chief Financial Officer and also has a direct reporting relationship to the Audit Committees of both the Stanford University Board of Trustees and the SHS Board of Directors. IAD's charter guarantees access to all pertinent University and SHS data.
IAD carries out a regular audit program aimed primarily at testing and strengthening the University's system of internal controls. IAD also coordinates the activities of all other auditors working on campus.
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