Audit  Audit of Greenfield Community College (GCC)

In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of Greenfield Community College (GCC) for the period March 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020.

In this performance audit, we reviewed financial activity from federal funds provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted by Congress on March 27, 2020. GCC received grant funds under two components of the CARES Act’s Education Stabilization Fund: direct funding from the United States Department of Education (US DOE), provided through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), and funding from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (MDHE), allocated through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund. The purpose of our audit was to determine whether GCC administered the CARES Act funds it received according to the criteria established by US DOE and MDHE.

Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance by GCC that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards. However, in the “Other Matters” section of this report, we discuss modified guidance from US DOE that provides increased flexibility regarding the use of funds received from the HEERF award. We also provide some recommendations to improve internal controls over GCC’s information security system.

A PDF copy of the audit of Greenfield Community College is available here.