Aggie-vations
Aggis Pride has seen better days.
First came word that a former A&T vice chancellor for information technology been charged with embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretense.
Now this.
As Lanita Williams has reported, a team of high-level administrators and auditors from UNC General Administration is investigating problems in fiscal management and oversight at A&T.
UNC System President Erskine Bowles describes the problems as a "lack of internal control,lack of proper systems, lack of IT functionality, financial irregularities and the lack of control at its foundation."
Serious stuff.
Interim Chancellor Lloyd V. Hackley asked for help in late December, he said, because he had been "smelling some smoke."
Both Hackley and the chairwoman of A&T’s Board of Trustees, Velma Speight-Buford, say these problems began on the watch of the school's previous chancellor, James Renick.
Renick, who is a senior vice president at the American Council on Education in Washington, has not talked to the News & Record but did release a written statement today:
"I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the faculty, staff and students at North Carolina A&T State University while I was chancellor. During that time, state officials annually conducted a rigorous series of financial audits of the institution. Those audits, which remain part of the public record, found no serious financial irregularities."
Still, this does not look good and threatens to tarnish what had been a blemish-free legacy.
Renick was engaging, energetic and charismatic as A&T chancellor. Students loved him. The community embraced him. He's pulled stunts such as bunking in a dorm room, helping students move onto campus and sprinting on the A&T track.
He probably got too much credit for the building boom on campus,which by and large was not his doing ... the voters passed bonds to build most of the projects regardless of who was sitting in the chancellor's chair. But the projects were managed efficiently on his watch (so far as we could tell).
He rebuillt tattered relations with alumni.
And Renick brought new excitement to A&T.
But in a conversation late last year with the News & Record editorial board, Bowles chose his words carefully in his assessment of Renick's tenure and expressed concern that some programs at A&T, such as engineering, were not as strong as they could be.
Meanwhile, Hackley, whose military background probably fuels his methodical campaign to fix things at A&T, has been far from a figurehead. He is kicking hinies and taking names, so to speak.
Call it irony or great timing, but one of the honorees ar Tuesday's Bryan Foundation annual luncheon was Hackley.
He won an "Unsung Hero" award.
Comments (8)
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It seems A & T has a history of financial irregularities and was also investigated in the early 80's for the same thing that's occurred again, poor internal controls.
I was suprised that there's only one employee in the A & T internal audit dept, if I read Lanita's article correctly. An org as large as that oughta be better staffed, and I'm equally surprised that prior audits by the State as well as the independent one wouldn't have exposed these issue. Maybe they did and the University failed to act on them.
Yes, unfortunately, this will tarnish Renick's time while at A & T.
As well as the engineering program, there has also been some concern expressed by the State with respect to the quality of the nursing program at the school.
Posted on February 7, 2007 10:44 AM
Jon,
There may be only one designated internal auditor, but there are other folks in the audit department. In addition, the state of North Carolina performs an annual audit with an outside team, usually 4 or 5 auditors. These annual audits are noted in Dr. Renick's statement.
And, yes, Jon, there were financial issues in 1980, I believe. If my math is correct, that would be 27 years and 27 annual outside audits ago. Those audits are probably available, if you would care to review them. If not, let's give it a rest, please.
MD
Posted on February 7, 2007 5:01 PM
So, Mad Dog, is that to suggest that the problems don't really exist?
Or that previous auditors missed them?
Posted on February 7, 2007 5:04 PM
Mad Dog, today's story says that "forensic audits" such as the ones being conducted now dig deeper than those previous state audits.
Posted on February 8, 2007 9:10 AM
Allen,
As to non existing problems vs. previous audits, I can only say it could be either one. I don't want to Nifong anybody until all of the facts are in. The problems may or may not be as serious as perceived. And if previous audits did miss some items, these "forensic audits" should clear things up.
Let's see what the reports say.
Posted on February 8, 2007 10:06 AM
Agreed, Mad Dog. Let's see what the final numbers say.
Posted on February 8, 2007 10:22 AM
It would be interesting to find out if an internal controls advisory report to the A & T Audit Committee (if they have one) was ever issued by the State as well as independent outside auditors. This would have detailed serious ic problems.
In light of the obvious ic problems at A & T, if an ic report hadn't been issued makes one wonder if the State auditors as well as the independent ones are doing proper due diligence in their reviews.
The fact that there's only one internal auditor for the University should have raised flags of concern in the past in light of the vast amounts of State as well as Fed grant and research monies that typically flows through a public university's books.
Outside auditors (indies as well as State) perform a very important service assuring the financial statement reader of the accuracy of records, but the internal auditor has in many cases been the driver behind exposing issues of non-compliance as well as outright fraud in many corporations whereas the indies have overlooked issues, or worse, on occasions have ignored.
Posted on February 8, 2007 11:17 AM
Good questions and points, Jon. I'll have to admit not knowing a whole lot about auditing procedures and protocols, but it does appear that A&T needs more internal controls and oversight.
Any accountants out there?
Posted on February 8, 2007 11:44 AM