Best Practices / Benchmarking Studies for Colleges, Universities, and Research Institutions


Higher Education Audit and Assurance Best Practices / Benchmarking Studies Board and Audit Committee Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) Construction Project Risk Management Enterprise Risk Management Financial Modeling and Decision Support Financial Ratios / Benchmarking Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigations Information Technology and Data Privacy Internal Audit Regulatory Compliance Sponsored Research Compliance Strategy and Finance Tax

Best practices / benchmarking studies

Baker Tilly has performed benchmarking studies of financial, operational, and strategic topics for colleges, universities, and associations nationwide. The studies are typically designed to provide information about practices that can be strategically challenging for organizations or provide comparable organization information for assurance purposes.

The information and insight provided includes qualitative and quantitative data to help organizations understand best practices and common pitfalls in almost any business area. We’ve also worked with organizations to evaluate the maturity of their processes against the benchmarking study results and then formulate recommendations that leverage the associated results to improve performance.

Client experience: Benchmarking complex operational processes
Institutional challenge A prominent university understood that background checks could be a helpful tool to aid the organization in its evaluation of potential candidates. However, the university also understood that performing background checks can be a costly endeavor that, if done inconsistently, can increase an organization’s exposure to risks (e.g., legal, compliance, and regulatory). The organization wanted a better understanding of current background check practices in higher education and engaged Baker Tilly to perform a nationwide survey. Capabilities provided Baker Tilly: (1) surveyed general counsel and human resources representatives of five universities in a similar geographic location to understand their current background check practices and their future plans; (2) synthesized the key elements of over 25 additional university background check policies and procedures; and (3) interviewed five employment screening providers to better understand non-higher education organization background check practices. We then aggregated the information gained during benchmarking to identify common themes and correlations for the university. Results The university gained a cohesive overview of current background check practices and was able to implement a program across the organization that incorporated best practices from peer institutions.
Sample best practices/benchmarking studies
Anti-fraud management survey Background check survey and practices Campus safety and security practices Endowment spending practices Enterprise-wide systems implementation best practices Financial ratios benchmarking Information technology effectiveness assessment Internal audit structure and operations study