WSU Audit Turns Up Procedural Problems Cash, Sick Leave Not Adequately Tracked In Many Departments

Washington State University’s departments aren’t adequately keeping track of cash, employee absences and equipment, an audit report released Monday says.

“What we are having a problem with is sometimes the departments don’t follow procedures, and we don’t know that until the auditor checks it,” said Ernie Renfro, interim vice president for business affairs.

“We are working on that constantly.”

No money was misappropriated and no equipment was stolen, but the lack of accounting controls puts the university at higher risk of that happening, said State Auditor Brian Sonntag.

“It’s a good news/bad news thing for the university,” Sonntag said.

WSU has about 580 departments and divisions that handle cash. An audit of 15 of those found all but three had problems, such as lack of receipts, documentation and supervisory review.

The audit report also found that departments also are not consistently keeping track of sick leave, vacation and other paid absences.

For example, in four departments reviewed, 95 percent of the faculty did not claim any sick leave during a four-year period. In two of the faculty member’s files, no sick leave had ever been claimed, despite being employees at WSU for more than 20 years.

A review of six other departments found equipment inventory lapses, including incorrect serial numbers, misplaced items and computer equipment that couldn’t be located.

To WSU’s credit, once individual departments are audited, they usually improve, Sonntag said. Similar problems also are found at the University of Washington and other large, decentralized operations.

However, Sonntag said it is troubling that the same problems continue to surface in other departments.

“If they could take a more global university-wide approach, then we wouldn’t have the department-by-department issues cropping up,” he said.

WSU has implemented training programs in an attempt to correct the problems.

In December 1997 and January 1998, more than 30 meetings were held with 170 upper-level administrators to discuss the need for better cash handling and payroll accountability, WSU officials said in the report.

“We seldom have a repeat in a department,’ Renfro said. “But it can go on for a long time because we have 350 to 400 departments, and just the logistics make it difficult to get around to them all.”