The organizational structure of Athens State University (ASU) places the responsibility for control of physical resources with the Vice President for Financial Affairs in coordination with the Director of the Physical Plant. The employees and departments under the Office of the Vice President for Financial Affairs coordinate all activities related to accounting, internal control, human resources, physical plant operations, financial resource control, and security.

In accordance with Alabama State Board of Education Policy 505.01 and the corresponding policy guidelines, the ASU Maintenance Department maintains a comprehensive and current facilities inventory. This inventory documents each building’s construction and/or renovation square footage, and the type of space and how the space is utilized. This inventory ensures that the University has detailed information on building and infrastructure assets. The University’s facilities inventory must be submitted in odd-numbered years to the Chancellor of the Department of Postsecondary Education in the format required by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE). From these inventories, ACHE periodically compiles and publishes aggregate facilities data on the ACHE website for all public universities in the state.

In addition, the University must submit a Facilities Master Plan to the Chancellor and State Board of Education annually. The Facilities Master plan includes information on capital requirements and needs and a statement of bonded indebtedness. The format for this Master Plan is determined by ACHE and this information is also disseminated on the ACHE website.

All campus facilities are patrolled by security personnel who work shifts covering all 24 hours of each day of the week. Security personnel complete a walkthrough of each building for fire and safety checks at the start of each shift and several times during each shift. All buildings are locked and secured after the close of business and after all scheduled classes have met for the day. Only personnel authorized to use University facilities are given access to campus buildings, and employees are only given access to those buildings that are considered necessary for them to fulfill their job responsibilities. Additional information on campus security can be found in the narrative for Comprehensive Standard 3.11.2.

As required by Section 6 of the ASU Financial Policies and Procedures Manual and the Purchasing and Accounts Payable Policy, a purchase order must be issued before the purchase of any equipment or supplies, excluding incidental purchases that conform to the University’s petty cash policy. To conform to State Board Policy 324.01 and ASU Financial Policies and Procedures Manual, Section 6E, the University maintains a centralized shipping and receiving operation that oversees the control and inventory of state and College equipment and supplies. Upon the receipt of equipment or supplies, the Coordinator of Property/Central Receiving/Assistant to the Director of Physical Plant assigns specific departmental responsibility for the equipment or supplies, and when appropriate, assigns an inventory control number for each item. The ASU Financial Policies and Procedures Manual, Section 5I conforms to State Board policies and guidelines, and Federal guidelines on the capitalization of fixed assets. Pursuant to these policies and guidelines, assets in excess of $5,000 and having a useful life of one year or more will be capitalized and inventoried. In addition, University policy requires the inventory of items whose purchase price exceeds $500 and inventory of all sensitive items (digital cameras, camcorders, etc.) whose cost exceeds $100 and which could be easily stolen and sold.

As required by the ASU Financial Policies and Procedures Manual, Section 6G, any disposal or sale of property is recorded as it occurs and permanent records of the disposal or sale are kept. If the property has been assigned an inventory control number, the inventory control number is retired upon the disposal or sale of the property.

In the event that University property (with the exception of motor vehicles) is stolen or destroyed, the property is covered under the Alabama State Insurance Fund, as specified in State Board of Education Policy 310.02 and Section 5Q of the ASU Financial Policies and Procedures Manual. In addition, the University is required to purchase liability protection through local carriers to cover the motor vehicles owned by the University.

As required by State Board of Education guidelines, an annual inventory report must be submitted to the Office of the Vice President for Financial Affairs for reconciliation to the financial statement for each fiscal year. These reports verify that an ongoing system for securing, sustaining and maintaining physical resources is in place. Furthermore, the annual audited financial statements (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009) performed by external examiners indicate that Athens State has no known inadequacies in the control of physical resources.