To participate fully in the MBA Pathfinder® data warehouse and display comprehensive program information—including admissions and enrollment data—on the mba.com Web site, schools are required to adopt the MBA Reporting Criteria and subject their program information to an agreed-upon procedure (AUP).
The AUP is intended solely to educate and provide constructive guidance to ensure the accuracy and comparability of information made available on the Web site. A task force comprised of a representative group of MBA Reporting Criteria adopters oversees the AUP process.
What Is an Agreed-Upon Procedure?
In an AUP engagement, a professional services firm is retained to issue a report of findings based on specific procedures performed on subject matter. MBA Pathfinder AUPs are purely educational—through the AUP, we hope to help schools build and maintain high-quality program data.
An AUP is different from an audit. In an audit, the auditors issue an opinion based on their findings. In the MBA Pathfinder AUP, the "auditor" does not issue an opinion, regardless of findings, and only the school and GMAC® staff see the report.
KPMG, our AUP vendor, is not allowed to provide negative assurance or an opinion on the MBA Pathfinder data review. Additionally, there can be no "material" findings resulting from an MBA Pathfinder data review, because GMAC®, the schools, and KPMG have not agreed to a definition of material findings, and because GMAC has not published a definition in the MBA Reporting Criteria.
The AUP was developed with input from GMAC, its member schools, and KPMG.
Reports
Agreed-upon procedures are performed by independent accountants from KPMG who report their findings on the basis of those procedures only. The independent accountants' report is issued solely for use by the school audited.
AUP Timing
The MBA Reporting Criteria issued in April 2000, and updated in 2002 and 2004, apply to reports of program information in 2000 and each year thereafter. Program data submitted for 2000 and 2001 were not subject to audit.
The first AUPs were conducted on information submitted for and pertaining to 2002, and actual AUPs began in 2003. Programs that report data are selected at random by the KPMG representatives.
When a school submits information about more than one program, it may be randomly selected for an audit of one program, more than one program, or none at all.
For More Information
If you have any questions about the MBA Pathfinder data warehouse or the MBA Reporting Criteria, please contact us or send an e-mail to pathfinder@gmac.com.