More than a month after state auditors released a report questioning University expenses, University officials admit some mistakes were made, but they maintain that University Foundation funds were used appropriately.
Auditors, who completed most of their field work between March and July 2000, criticized several University departments for purchasing airline tickets, food, flowers, gifts, alcohol and other personal items with University credit cards.
They also found gift fund money dispersed through the University was spent on purchases they deemed inappropriate — such as the use of donation funds to buy football tickets for one University dean, and to pay the car insurance premium for another.
Heidi Sann, an audit coordinator for the University Business Affairs Office, is now working with a team to investigate how 30 University departments use University credit cards.
Sherri McDowell, the director of the Business Affairs Office, said the review will be used to correct problems the auditors found.
“We’ll be using our reviews this summer to touch bases with those departments where the audit found something that was questionable,” she said.
In some cases, poor judgment was responsible for those misuses, she said. But in other cases, card-holders may have not known what University credit cards should be used for.
University credit cards, also called procurement cards, are issued to individual departments by the Business Affairs Office. They are used because they are more efficient than writing purchase orders for individual items, allowing the University to pay the bill monthly rather than on a per-item basis, McDowell said.
One way in which the Business Affairs Office will educate department card-holders on which expenses are and are not acceptable is by issuing a “buddy card,” which lists prohibited expenses — such as gifts, flowers and food — on one side, and approved expenses — such as computer software and office furniture — on the opposite side.
There are also plans to put together a guide for making expenditures, and to post a complete expenditure guide online by July 2002. Workshops and a guide to using University funds will also be available to employees who make decisions about departmental expenses.
But while the University is taking steps to change some financial procedures, University Foundation officials have a different response to the audit. Foundation officials were unavailable for an interview, but in a statement released last week, Vice President for University Advancement Allan Price disagreed with the auditors’ recommendation that foundation funds be more carefully accounted for.
“Legally, UO Foundation funds are private and not subject to state audit,” Price said. “The foundation is rigorous in its efforts to ensure that all funds are used in accordance with donor intent.”