CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas Audit Committee reviewed several audits at its first meeting Thursday night at the UCA campus.
The committee was created in May by the UCA board of trustees to oversee the UCA Office of Internal Audit.
Members of the audit committee are trustees Kay Hinkle, Bobby Reynolds and Randy Sims. They discussed focusing the role of the committee to reviewing administrative and accounting processes and overall quality of university services as an independent organization.
The draft of the audit committee's charter also states that the Office of Internal Audit will report directly to the committee and will have unrestricted access to all records.
"That's our function," Sims said. "To do the labor of looking at the audits."
Tom Courtway, then-interim president of the University of Central Arkansas - which was hit with a critical state audit that questioned the ethics of some UCA transactions - proposed the creation of an audit committee independent of the administration.
Courtway replaced former UCA President Lu Hardin, who resigned last year.
A report in the spring by the Arkansas Legislative Audit Division said, in part, "certain transactions and events ... came to our attention that compromised the University's commitment to integrity and ethical values." Seven of the report's findings were forwarded by the state to the prosecuting attorney for review. That review by Prosecuting Attorney Marcus Vaden is under way.
Members reviewed reports that UCA auditor Pam Massey presented at the meeting. The departments examined include the admissions office and housing.
The housing department was audited because of a tip that credit-card deposits were not being handled correctly, Massey said.
"We found a lot of inaccuracies," she said. "There were just a couple of accounting errors."
The housing department hasbeen audited several times in the past few years, she said. But new policies and committee suggestions will help make sure there are fewer problems.
Likewise, the admissions office should be able to stop the loss of cash on registration day with more training and stricter policies, Massey said.
The committee also discussed taking action to promote safer credit-card information handling. In the past, credit-card numbers have been left on paperwork when they should have been blacked out, Massey said. Also, since many internal audits stem from tips, a form for anonymous tips may soon be added to the Web site.
The committee meets four times a year. The next meeting will be in November.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 07/24/2009