[TonyLima]

I think the professor is correct is questioning how do you make a $240 million mistake and still have a job?

FWIW, I can't imagine it was a $240 million "mistake". Either the financial people weren't reporting the truth to "management" (i.e. lying) or they were telling the sad truth and management elected to hold off reporting it, hoping it would somehow "go away". There are financial forecasts on at least a monthly basis, if not more. When things stop going according to projections, it needs to be dealt with. They knew. Who knew what when is an issue, but it wasn't a surprise. RR is, to this point, Teflon man. This one will be "interesting".

Bookkeeping ain’t that hard. I smell fraud.

Coin flip between fraud and simple incompetence. The UofA is not audited by a Big Four accounting firm, they're audited by the Arizona Auditor General. In looking at the qualifications of the individuals involved, I would not be filled with confidence. On the UofA side, the VP of Financial Services has an undergrad degree in Criminal Justice, and a Master's in Applied Sociology and (unaccountably) a Master's in Accounting. An odd mix. The Chief Budget Officer has worked for UofA for just under 20 years, starting out as a library assistant, got his master's in accounting at UofA, progressed through the ranks, was named CBO three years ago. CFO has been there for 20 years. The Director of Business and Finance makes less than $100k. On the Arizona Auditor General side, the chief auditor lists no background at all, and you can't find one with a cursory search (her name is on the opinion). I don't see any public accounting in the background of any of these individuals (doesn't mean it's not there, just that I can't find it).

They tested 195 high risk transactions (out of 10k +/-) and made recommendations for improvement on the March 2022 report

https://www.azregents.edu/sites/default/...r-2022.pdf

$240 million is about 10% of their annual budget. That is a massive, massive miss. Here's the June, 2023 Annual Report and clean opinion:

https://financialservices.arizona.edu/si...023web.pdf

The last paragraph of the auditor's report is a little ominous...references that most information is provided by management, that they'll compile a separate analysis and publish it separately. That was a month ago. Haven't been able to find that analysis.

I'm an economist, not an accountant.  But I do have an MBA.  And I know enough statistics to say that a sample of 195 out of 10,000 is ... inadequate.  Let me look into the AZ auditor's background.  I have sources ...

[TonyLima]

I think the professor is correct is questioning how do you make a $240 million mistake and still have a job?

FWIW, I can't imagine it was a $240 million "mistake". Either the financial people weren't reporting the truth to "management" (i.e. lying) or they were telling the sad truth and management elected to hold off reporting it, hoping it would somehow "go away". There are financial forecasts on at least a monthly basis, if not more. When things stop going according to projections, it needs to be dealt with. They knew. Who knew what when is an issue, but it wasn't a surprise. RR is, to this point, Teflon man. This one will be "interesting".

Bookkeeping ain’t that hard. I smell fraud.

Coin flip between fraud and simple incompetence. The UofA is not audited by a Big Four accounting firm, they're audited by the Arizona Auditor General. In looking at the qualifications of the individuals involved, I would not be filled with confidence. On the UofA side, the VP of Financial Services has an undergrad degree in Criminal Justice, and a Master's in Applied Sociology and (unaccountably) a Master's in Accounting. An odd mix. The Chief Budget Officer has worked for UofA for just under 20 years, starting out as a library assistant, got his master's in accounting at UofA, progressed through the ranks, was named CBO three years ago. CFO has been there for 20 years. The Director of Business and Finance makes less than $100k. On the Arizona Auditor General side, the chief auditor lists no background at all, and you can't find one with a cursory search (her name is on the opinion). I don't see any public accounting in the background of any of these individuals (doesn't mean it's not there, just that I can't find it).

They tested 195 high risk transactions (out of 10k +/-) and made recommendations for improvement on the March 2022 report

https://www.azregents.edu/sites/default/...r-2022.pdf

$240 million is about 10% of their annual budget. That is a massive, massive miss. Here's the June, 2023 Annual Report and clean opinion:

https://financialservices.arizona.edu/si...023web.pdf

The last paragraph of the auditor's report is a little ominous...references that most information is provided by management, that they'll compile a separate analysis and publish it separately. That was a month ago. Haven't been able to find that analysis.

I'm an economist, not an accountant.  But I do have an MBA.  And I know enough statistics to say that a sample of 195 out of 10,000 is ... inadequate.  Let me look into the AZ auditor's background.  I have sources ...