Iowa State University Internal Audit Report – ISU Flight Service and University Owned Aircraft 10
Partners are charged a rate of $4.52 per nautical mile flown. Meanwhile, university non-partners
are charged a higher rate of $6.00 per nautical mile flown. The partnership and non-partnership
rates approximate the average variable and average total cost of aircraft operations respectively.
Athletics is the principal user of the King Air 350, paying approximately 50% of the total
funding over the past three fiscal years. The President’s Office is the next largest user followed
by the ISU Foundation. A number of other departments utilized the aircraft for various academic
and research activities.
Audit Recommendation – Individual partnership fees should be calculated and announced in a
timely manner to the Facilities Planning and Management’s Accounting Department, which in
turn should ensure billings are processed based on these new amounts semi-annually. A shorter
and more routine billing cycle will aid in more accurate billing and reduce the likelihood of
variances. Billed amounts should be reconciled to total receipts at year-end to ensure Flight
Service has recouped the appropriate funds from all internal customers.
7) Billing Errors
Flight Service has not consistently billed partner and non-partner customers the appropriate
amounts for the usage of university aircraft and multiple errors were identified in the calculation
of customer billings. Billing information was analyzed for the time period of April 2014 through
August 2016. Errors were noted in which Flight Service did not bill for all legs of a trip,
underbilled non-partners, and overbilled partners, resulting in Flight Service not fully recapturing
the cost of all flights.
Audit Recommendation – Flight Service should improve the billing process by reviewing bills
prior to sending to customers to ensure the bills are consistently accurate and based on the rate
schedule of the appropriate customer group (partner vs. non-partner). In situations in which a
customer is charged a rate other than the standard rate per nautical mile, the explanation for the
rate used should be documented and maintained by Flight Service.
8) Flight Records
Flight Service does not maintain a comprehensive log of all flights on the Cirrus. Flight records
are maintained for the King Air 350, but the records lack necessary details, such as business
purpose. There is no record retention policy regarding flight logs. Also, at times, passengers are
listed on legs of flights for billing purposes, but the passengers are not actually on the aircraft. In
one instance a passenger was identified as being on a flight but was not listed on the passenger
list. A comprehensive log of all flights for both university-owned aircraft would document and
substantiate aircraft usage, nature of flights, and support billings, if questioned by stakeholders.
Audit Recommendation – A comprehensive log of all flights should be maintained for both
university-owned aircraft. The flight logs should include the following details: pilot
identification, trip date, trip legs, airport of departure, airport of arrival, departure time, arrival
time, miles flown, business purpose, passengers, total expenses, and any other details deemed
necessary by university management. The passenger lists should accurately reflect individuals
on all legs of flights. A record retention policy should be put into place for the flight records and
the records should be maintained and purged in accordance with the policy.