Altamaha Technical College, Jesup, Georgia, management letter, November 5, 2007

RUSSELL W. HINTON
STATE AUDITOR
(404) 656-2174

DEPARTMENT OF AUDITS AND ACCOUNTS
EDUCATION AUDIT DIVISION
270 Washington Street, S.W., Suite 1-156 Atlanta, Georgia 30334-8400
November 5, 2007

RONALDE. WATSON
DIRECTOR (404) 656-2180

Members of the State Board of Technical and Adult Education Members of the Local Board of Directors
and Honorable Lorette Hoover, President Altamaha Technical College
Ladies and Gentlemen:
In planning and performing our audit ofthe financial statements ofAltamaha Technical College, an organizational unit ofthe State ofGeorgia, as ofand for the year ended June 30, 2007, in accordance with standards generally accepted in the United States of America, we considered Altamaha Technical College's internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing our audit procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the financial statements, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Technical College's internal control. Accordingly, we do not express an opinion on the effectiveness ofthe Altamaha Technical College's internal control.
Our consideration of internal control was for the limited purpose described in the preceding paragraph and would not necessarily identify all deficiencies in internal control that might be significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. Any identified deficiencies in internal controls that we consider to be significant deficiencies and/or material weaknesses will be communicated to management and those charged with governance within the findings section of our report on Altamaha Technical College's basic financial statements dated November 5, 2007. We noted certain other matters involving the internal control and operations of Altamaha Technical College that are presented in this management letter for your consideration. This letter does not affect our report dated November 5, 2007 on the financial statements of Altamaha Technical College.
We will review the status of these comments during our next engagement. Our comments and recommendations, all ofwhich have been discussed with appropriate members ofmanagement, are intended to improve the entity's internal control or result in other operating efficiencies. We will be

pleased to discuss these comments in further detail at your convenience. Our comments are summarized as follows:
ACCOUNTING CONTROLS (OVERALL)
Internal Control Process Documentation As a result of our audit, we found a lack of formal documentation related to management's internal control process and procedures, risk assessments, and monitoring of key controls and processes identified by management. Management should formalize their documentation and monitoring of key controls over significant accounts, processes and financial statement disclosures that will be relied upon to ensure that Altamaha Technical College's financial statements are fairly presented.
In the normal course ofthe audit process, the auditor is only required to obtain an understanding of internal control sufficient to plan the audit. This, however, does not imply that the auditor must perform any type oftest or other verification ofthe effectiveness ofthe internal control system. As such, we strongly recommend that management evaluate the effectiveness ofthe entity's system of internal controls. This evaluation should reaffirm management's responsibility for establishing and maintaining an adequate system of internal controls and financial reporting. Strong and effective internal controls are the responsibility of management and we believe that this practice, conducted on an annual basis, will be ofsignificant benefit in enhancing internal controls and preventing fraud and abuse.
We believe that the implementation of these recommendations will provide Altamaha Technical College with a stronger system ofinternal accounting controls while also making its operations more efficient. This communication is intended solely for the information and use of management and others within the organization and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than these specified parties.
Respectfully submitted,
~h,rn~~
Russell W. Hinton, CPA, CGFM State Auditor
cc: Claire Arnold Lisa Eason, Executive Director of Administrative Services