The College of William and Mary has concluded its review of budgets managed by the Office of Student Activities, finding no evidence of misappropriation or misuse of funds.
The reports analyzed Student Activities’ Agency Indices, which is funded by campus vending machine proceeds, and budgets funded through the student activities fee.
Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler ’88 Ph.D ’06 requested the audits last year after a student audit revealed Publications Council funds were used to pay graduate assistants through the Office of Student Activities. The Publications Council, along with other student organizations, is financed by the student activities fee.
“I was extremely happy [College Internal auditor Mike] Stump was able to conduct such a successful audit. It’s reassuring that the College supports such measures,” Taylor Porter ’11 said.
Porter conducted the student audit released last year.
The report found that there were very few discrepancies between finance logs kept on Banner and the office’s day-to-day books.
“Our review disclosed the fund balances in Quicken totaled approximately $476,491 at July 20, 2010 and exceeded Banner by $180.68. This difference was immaterial and did not warrant an adjusting journal entry,” the report said.
The audits, conducted by the Office of Internal Audit, made several minor recommendations regarding accounting practices within the Office of Student Activities. These included requiring the vice president of Student Affairs to approve all reimbursements, ensuring employees are not approving reimbursements for their supervisors and greater consideration of how certain expenditures could be perceived.
Stump cited a $1,167 expenditure from the agency indices, which paid for a reception and gift for former office manager Linda Williams, as an example of an expenditure that may be perceived as inappropriate, albeit allowable.
“Our opinion was that it wasn’t the best appearance,” Stump said. “But it could have been much worse.”
The reception, which honored Williams for 30 years of service at the College, was reportedly open to the entire College community, and therefore deemed allowable.
According to Stump, the College is currently considering tightening rules and regulations regarding expenditures from the agency indices.
Agency indices are not subject to the same guidelines that dictate state funding or student activities fee funding.
Stump commended Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Mark Constantine and office accountant Anita Hamlin for being helpful throughout the audit process.
“I’m very pleased,” Ambler said. “I had absolutely no reason to believe anything was inappropriate.”
