OT: U of Arizona's Accounting Boo-Boo

[bigmatt718]

Imagine miscalculating your value by a quarter BILLION dollars.

'Draconian cuts' coming, U of A President Robbins tells faculty

University of Arizona President Robert Robbins and the school's chief financial officer were grilled by faculty members about the unexpected "financial crisis" that could result in layoffs and other cuts.

tucson.com

 

[PiscatawayMike]

 

[angmo]

https://www.arizona.edu/degree-search/majors/accounting

 

[rurichdog]

At what point does it become criminal?

 

[RUTGERS95]

At what point does it become criminal?

right!!!!!!

academia isn't the best place to find people who perform their duties well sadly and ironically

 

[ashokan]

I'm 100% certain there is a masssive epidemic of this stuff.
We don't know just how broke feds/states/cities/institutions are.
They move money around like three-card monte
New politicans, admins, acquisitions, accountants come around and they don't know where the bodies are buried - then they bury their own.

Pentagon can't do audits.
There some explantions for some of that but its also subversion, misdirection, grift etc.
When "climate change" was made defense issue # 1 it allowed all sorts of money to be wasted and channled into sketchy enterprises, activities etc.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-03-07/pentagon-fiscal-audit-budget-9418157.html

 

[mdk02]

At what point does it become criminal?

When someone, or someine connected to them, received a financial benefit

 

[bigmatt718]

When someone, or someine connected to them, received a financial benefit

Yep. That would be considered collusion.

 

[rurichdog]

So signing off on quarterly & yearly financials stating the information contained within is complete & accurate when it is complete BS is just an 'oopsie'? What's the point?

 

[RUTGERS95]

I'm 100% certain there is a masssive epidemic of this stuff.
We don't know just how broke feds/states/cities/institutions are.
They move money around like three-card monte
New politicans, admins, acquisitions, accountants come around and they don't know where the bodies are buried - then they bury their own.

Pentagon can't do audits.
There some explantions for some of that but its also subversion, misdirection, grift etc.
When "climate change" was made defense issue # 1 it allowed all sorts of money to be wasted and channled into sketchy enterprises, activities etc.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-03-07/pentagon-fiscal-audit-budget-9418157.html

no we know, we just ignore it and bail out vs looking into the accounting. The only people who are worse than academia are gov't

 

[RUTGERS95]

So signing off on quarterly & yearly financials stating the information contained within is complete & accurate when it is complete BS is just an 'oopsie'? What's the point?

worldcomm...lol

you are right however

 

[angmo]

Their endowment is $1.2bln. make it up from that.

 

[Knight Shift]

I'm 100% certain there is a masssive epidemic of this stuff.
We don't know just how broke feds/states/cities/institutions are.
They move money around like three-card monte
New politicans, admins, acquisitions, accountants come around and they don't know where the bodies are buried - then they bury their own.

Pentagon can't do audits.
There some explantions for some of that but its also subversion, misdirection, grift etc.
When "climate change" was made defense issue # 1 it allowed all sorts of money to be wasted and channled into sketchy enterprises, activities etc.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-03-07/pentagon-fiscal-audit-budget-9418157.html

 

[ashokan]

Locally we had five volunteer firehouses have treasurers, chiefs and others get busted for pilfering, embezzeling and such. It took about 5-7 years but I started thinking something is going really wrong.

 

[Knight Shift]

Locally we had five volunteer firehouses have treasurers, chiefs and others get busted for pilfering, embezzeling and such. It took about 5-7 years but I started thinking something is going really wrong.

It happens at all levels within boroughs, cities, counties, etc. Volunteer organizations have little oversight, and if someone is opportunistic, this can happen.

 

[mdk02]

You don't have lto make a mistake for a public employee to be underfunded. It's almost the norm.

 

[newell138]

Bidenomics

 

[ashokan]

no we know, we just ignore it and bail out vs looking into the accounting. The only people who are worse than academia are gov't

Ever see a film titled "Margin Call" with Stanley Tucci? It was about a fired investment bank analyst passing a thumb drive to another employee while telling him to "be careful."

The remaining employee looks at the data on drive and realizes the IB is over-extended and broke. The secret gets out and there is a mad rush to have a giant sale before the public finds out about the problem.

Its actually a very good cast and film. I heard it was based of some events from financial crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_Call

 

[mdk02]

Bidenomics

Actually it's been going on for decades.

 

[Knight Shift]

You don't have lto make a mistake for a public employee to be underfunded. It's almost the norm.

I get that, but mistake or miscalculation or underfunding-they all fall under the heading of "malfeasance." To wit, look at this from the article:

"The UA offers a four-year tuition guarantee, meaning students are promised the same tuition throughout their four years at the institution. In addition, the university spends over $300 million on financial aid and merit scholarships to attract high achieving students, as well.
Despite that investment, the amount of financial aid given out is “not financially sustainable,” Robbins said."

Robbins told faculty members that the university is losing money on students who in high school had a GPA between a 3.75 and 4.0 because of the amount of merit money and financial aid they are awarded.
“If you look at the band from 3.75 GPA to 4.0, there are a lot of students here that pay nothing,” he said. “We lose money on every one.”

^^^Sounds like the obverse of an unfunded pension fund--giving away money that is not there.

Uh oh:

Athletics has also been a drain on the financial resources of the university, Robbins told the faculty, most of whom spoke out against the $55 million loan made by the university to the athletic department during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That money, Robbins said, has not been paid back “fast enough.”
Here's the CFO:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisarulney/

 

[Knight Shift]

The athletic department’s budget is roughly $100 million. About $40 million of that comes from the Pac-12, about $30 million comes from ticket sales, “primarily in football and basketball,” Robbins said, and the last $30 million comes from philanthropy and contracts.

Johann Rafelski, a physics professor, urged Robbins to consider selling the athletics department to an outside vendor.
“People who are qualified to run an athletics department may turn it into a profit,” he said. “We could perhaps get a good sale price.”

 

[RUTGERS95]

Ever see a film titled "Margin Call" with Stanley Tucci? It was about a fired investment bank analyst passing a thumb drive to another employee while telling him to "be careful."

The remaining employee looks at the data on drive and realizes the IB is over-extended and broke. The secret gets out and there is a mad rush to have a giant sale before the public finds out about the problem.

Its actually a very good cast and film. I heard it was based of some events from financial crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_Call

I was at MF global on Sunday, the day before they announced they had a liquidity issue, as they tried to sell debt to JP Morgan and various other institutions in an attempt to raise the funds

I get it

 

[RUTGERS95]

The athletic department’s budget is roughly $100 million. About $40 million of that comes from the Pac-12, about $30 million comes from ticket sales, “primarily in football and basketball,” Robbins said, and the last $30 million comes from philanthropy and contracts.

Johann Rafelski, a physics professor, urged Robbins to consider selling the athletics department to an outside vendor.
“People who are qualified to run an athletics department may turn it into a profit,” he said. “We could perhaps get a good sale price.”

academia are the most out of touch persons in America, just a touch more than of our gov't class

 

[RUTGERS95]

I get that, but mistake or miscalculation or underfunding-they all fall under the heading of "malfeasance." To wit, look at this from the article:

"The UA offers a four-year tuition guarantee, meaning students are promised the same tuition throughout their four years at the institution. In addition, the university spends over $300 million on financial aid and merit scholarships to attract high achieving students, as well.
Despite that investment, the amount of financial aid given out is “not financially sustainable,” Robbins said."

Robbins told faculty members that the university is losing money on students who in high school had a GPA between a 3.75 and 4.0 because of the amount of merit money and financial aid they are awarded.
“If you look at the band from 3.75 GPA to 4.0, there are a lot of students here that pay nothing,” he said. “We lose money on every one.”

^^^Sounds like the obverse of an unfunded pension fund--giving away money that is not there.

Uh oh:

Athletics has also been a drain on the financial resources of the university, Robbins told the faculty, most of whom spoke out against the $55 million loan made by the university to the athletic department during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That money, Robbins said, has not been paid back “fast enough.”
Here's the CFO:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisarulney/

she actually has no real background that would put her in this position anywhere in the real world.

RU has it owns issues here, I know first hand

 

[Scarlet16e2]

Maybe Uncle Billy left the money in the fold of the newspaper again?

 

[bumpstock]

she actually has no real background that would put her in this position anywhere in the real world.

RU has it owns issues here, I know first hand

Her B.S. from James Madison Univ. is in Communication Disorders (seriously). Not sure if she took any Accounting classes for her MBA from U. of A., but she sure can cook (the books).

 

[redking]

Ever see a film titled "Margin Call" with Stanley Tucci? It was about a fired investment bank analyst passing a thumb drive to another employee while telling him to "be careful."

The remaining employee looks at the data on drive and realizes the IB is over-extended and broke. The secret gets out and there is a mad rush to have a giant sale before the public finds out about the problem.

Its actually a very good cast and film. I heard it was based of some events from financial crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_Call

Margin Call is a classic.

I push numbers around on a computer screen. A bunch of glorified crack addicts take that information, pretend to understand it, and they bet against some other jock halfway around the world, who, you know, if he wasn’t doing this, he’d be in an OTB somewhere, putting it all on number seven.

 

[brgRC90]

right!!!!!!

academia isn't the best place to find people who perform their duties well sadly and ironically

Or corporate America or government or athletics or churches or anywhere else.

 

[RUschool]

she actually has no real background that would put her in this position anywhere in the real world.

RU has it owns issues here, I know first hand

At my prior company, a young very attractive female became VP of Public Relation extremely quickly, she use to travel with the CEO. After the CEO left, she had an affair with another higher up. Later when they fired her, she sued due to the affairs she had in the company, probably retired with her million dollar lawsuits and her stock options. No one thought she was qualified for her position. There were other affairs in the office, you just had to find the most attractive females.

This lady fit the same bill.

 

[NewJerseyGuy]

Pentagon can't do audits.

Donald Rumsfeld Classic quote about losing track of $2.3 trillion:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4683428/user-clip-23-trillion

 

[WhichReligionIsRight]

Ever see a film titled "Margin Call" with Stanley Tucci? It was about a fired investment bank analyst passing a thumb drive to another employee while telling him to "be careful."

The remaining employee looks at the data on drive and realizes the IB is over-extended and broke. The secret gets out and there is a mad rush to have a giant sale before the public finds out about the problem.

Its actually a very good cast and film. I heard it was based of some events from financial crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_Call

Great movie.

 

[WhichReligionIsRight]

Some of the replies in this thread ... initially dumbfounding ... par for the course on this board. Weird right-wing lunatic stuff.

As for the U of A, the Governor and legislature should probably fire the president and the CFO on the spot. A $250 million "surprise" doesn't just happen out of nowhere. Blaming scholarships seems a dubious explanation.

 

[Randal7]

someone didn’t extend the function down the entire column haha

 

[rucoe89]

It happens at all levels within boroughs, cities, counties, etc. Volunteer organizations have little oversight, and if someone is opportunistic, this can happen.

Agree. No organization of any time is immune from this.

The only way things change is accountability. But that requires laws. However, there are, laws on the books to deal with many issues and new laws get introduced. But then there is enforcement. If you don't like the laws or enforcement of them, you lobby to change the laws to carve your favorite moneybag out, starve the enforcement mechanism of resources, and/or don't enforce.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[RUScrew85]

Imagine miscalculating your value by a quarter BILLION dollars.

'Draconian cuts' coming, U of A President Robbins tells faculty

University of Arizona President Robert Robbins and the school's chief financial officer were grilled by faculty members about the unexpected "financial crisis" that could result in layoffs and other cuts.

tucson.com

Coverup or Competency Crisis?

 

[Knight Shift]

Agree. No organization of any time is immune from this.

The only way things change is accountability. But that requires laws. However, there are, laws on the books to deal with many issues and new laws get introduced. But then there is enforcement. If you don't like the laws or enforcement of them, you lobby to change the laws to carve your favorite moneybag out, starve the enforcement mechanism of resources, and/or don't enforce.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Seton Hall Law School - an administrator got away with nearly $1M! Happens everywhere.

 

[Knight Shift]

Coverup or Competency Crisis?

She covered up her competency with her good looks?

 

[RUScrew85]

Ever see a film titled "Margin Call" with Stanley Tucci? It was about a fired investment bank analyst passing a thumb drive to another employee while telling him to "be careful."

The remaining employee looks at the data on drive and realizes the IB is over-extended and broke. The secret gets out and there is a mad rush to have a giant sale before the public finds out about the problem.

Its actually a very good cast and film. I heard it was based of some events from financial crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_Call

Seen it. Good movie.

 

[RUScrew85]

Donald Rumsfeld Classic quote about losing track of $2.3 trillion:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4683428/user-clip-23-trillion

They can DO audits. They just can't PASS audits. And PASSING audits is really the main thing.

 

[RUScrew85]

She covered up her competency with her good looks?

Or maybe she was just "special'?