FIU leads SUS in operational audit findings

After being cited for permitting multi-million dollar problems to fester at the State University System office, former Chancellor Mark Rosenburg is now the public university president with the largest number of 2010 operational audit findings.

Florida International University, led by Rosenberg since last year, had 13 findings. That’s more than twice the number of the state’s largest SUS institution, the University of Central Florida, which had five. It’s also more than the number of findings at the University of Florida (seven), Florida State (five), or the University of South Florida (six). FAMU had seven findings in its most recent operational audit, released last year.

Some of the issues that the auditors found at FIU included following:

-"Tangible personal property records were not always complete and accurate."

-"Payments to vendors were not always pursuant to written contractual agreements or detailed purchase orders."

-"The University needed to improve controls over collections received at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management."

Between 2007 and 2008, while the BOG was running a “Task Force on FAMU Finance and Operational Control Issues,” Rosenberg let a number of problems in the SUS office go uncorrected.

A 2009 state operational audit faulted Rosenberg and the BOG for failing to properly document the decision-making process they used when they reviewed proposals for the 21st Century World Class Scholars Program, a $20 million legislatively-funded initiative that provides matching grants to help universities lure science and technology professors.

Additionally, auditors frowned upon the way the BOG administered the Research and Economic Development Investment Program, another matching grant fund. According to the report, the BOG did not fulfill all the required statutory obligations before it disbursed two grants, totaling $23.25 million, to UF.

Some Florida senators also raked Rosenberg over the coals for “requesting” money from public university foundations to pad his $231,750 chancellorship salary and provide perks such as a car allowance.

See the full list of public university operational audit findings here.