Unit budget chief invited to talk

Auditors, school officials and Joy Sharp herself, who worked for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for almost 40 years, agree that she made mistakes in handling finances for the school’s fundraising division.

She was budget director for the Division of University Advancement under two chiefs - now-UA Chancellor G. David Gearhart and former Vice Chancellor Brad Choate. And she was a central character to the division’s multimillion-dollar deficit spending that was discovered in July 2012.

The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee has invited Sharp and Choate, as well as Gearhart, to its meeting Friday. Choate and Gearhart are expected to attend and be questioned.

Although the invitations were sent weeks ago, Sharp still hasn’t said whether she will attend, legislators said last week. She did not answer multiple phone calls to her home.

Like Choate, Sharp has known Gearhart for years. Co-workers say the two went to high school together in Fayetteville.

Sharp, 60, took a job with the university in the 1970s. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree and later a master’s while continuing to work. In 2003, when Gearhart ran the fund-raising division, he promoted Sharp to budget director.

But after a $4 million-plus cumulative deficit was discovered in the division last year, auditors inside and outside the university looked at what happened. Among their findings related to Sharp were:

“Inadequate and inaccurate accounting and reporting of advancement’s financial status,” according to a Division of Legislative Audit report released Sept. 10.

Incorrect cost centers, or university accounts, charged with expenditures.

Deposit into an incorrect, unrestricted account of a restricted funds check for $1.35 million from the Tyson Foods Foundation and the Tyson Family Foundation to help construct a Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center.

Assigned proxy for approval of transactions to her sister, Betty Sharp, also a university employee. That proxy relationship violated school policy, auditors said.

Missing work sheets and files relating to UA Foundation requests, according to state auditors.

“Noncompliance with generally accepted accounting principles” and university policies and procedures.

On Nov. 2, 2012, Sharp responded in writing to the university treasurer’s findings.

“I acknowledge that I did not provide budget reports to [Choate] and unit heads in a timely and appropriate manner due to my workload. I did not monitor the revenue correctly. When the revenue decreased I did not adjust my projections accordingly,” Sharp wrote.

The Tyson check deposit error was “not intentional …. It was a mistake,” she wrote. She concluded her five-paragraph note:

“I would never intentionally try to damage the University of Arkansas in any way. I love the University of Arkansas and the Division of University Advancement. I deeply regret that through my lack of performance I have caused this problem.”