Higher Education Institution Coronavirus Resources

The coronavirus pandemic represents an enterprise risk for higher education. Please contact us to discuss how Baker Tilly can help you to:

Manage risk and ensure compliance

• Evolve your enterprise risk management plans and capabilities to address the current situation and to be even better positioned for future disruptions. 
• Prepare your governing board to continue to fulfill its responsibilities during this time of crisis. 
• Assure required accounting and reporting mechanisms are in place.

Drive business and academic continuity

• Address the academic integrity and cybersecurity risks of increasing online courses and a remote workforce. 
• Assess the sufficiency of your institution’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans. 
• Ensure that your major change initiatives (such as systems implementations) continue successfully during this difficult time by employing a “project risk review” approach.  
• Plan for workforce shortages because of limited contract or employee-based workforce availability (e.g., AMC and other essential functions).

Ensure health and safety

• Identify key contingencies and protocols relative to campus related incidents and responses. 
• Evaluate necessary modifications to student wellness supports and critical program intersections.
• Develop a comprehensive crisis communication plan with clear escalation procedures and lines of authority.

Assess fiscal sustainability and asset management rigor

• Develop immediate and long- term financial modeling for enrollment variations, tuition/room/board refund impacts and additional costs for alternative academic delivery models. 
• Identify impacts on capital projects and contracts (e.g., change orders, force majeure clause leverage), facilities use and temporary modification for quarantined space creation.
• Determine the potential, and strategy for insurance claims. 

To address all of these items, effectively continue your existing internal audit program using a virtual (off-site) approach and incorporate plans for key points of IA involvement to ensure appropriate response, reporting and compliance management, and results monitoring.