Scope of UB audit extended
The financial situation at the University of Belize is still under investigation by the board. The board doesn’t run the day to day operations of the school. The institution is run by its president Santos Mahung and the Chief Financial Officer is Harry Lui. Did they have a clear view of the financial stability of the institution? In addition to managing the budgetary and financial operations, Lui’s office is responsible for the maintenance of all financial manuals. News Five sought to speak to Lui today, but his secretary indicated that he was busy. However, Sylvaana Udz, UB’s Public Relations Officer, said late this evening that the board has decided to extend the audit to include the 2008 to 2009 financial school year.
Via Phone: Sylvaana Udz, Public Relations Officer, UB
“At the University of Belize, the board announced in a statement yesterday that priority is being given to finalizing the audit for the new period. The period in question that was brought up by the board was 2007-2008 financial year. The next step in the process is to get that report to the audit committee of the UB board of trustees and then the audit committee has the option to make a decision, make recommendations or also request further information that may be needed. I can also confirm that the audit of the 08 09 period has already been commissioned.”
Jose Sanchez
“The 07-08 period had some very large figures when it comes to travel and food. Is the board currently going to do anything to change that so that those expenses don’t become so exorbitant?”
Via Phone: Sylvaana Udz
“Well, in the first instance my understanding is understanding where exactly those expenses are being applied to. For example, the conference may have had such expenditure and I really can’t comment on the details of that and would like to refer that to the results of the ongoing investigations”
Jose Sanchez
“When it comes to the running of the school, when it comes to the actual financial documents, who would be the people to actually draft those reports that the board would use to make decisions on whether or not they want to increase fees or a wage freeze?”
Via Phone: Sylvaana Udz
“The financial controller’s office is in control of all such reports that are submitted through usual channels before it reaches the board. Our annual report is actually posted on our website. The current report on the website is of course, un-audited because these are not yet completed.”
Jose Sanchez
“When the board initially looked at the decision fort he freeze, it was because the reports were indicating that UB was in dire financial straits. Is the auditing showing now that the finance is actually better than the bad state that they thought it was?”
Via Phone: Sylvaana Udz
“I can only go with what the board released yesterday as they are the ones that are aware of the situation as we speak. Other than the release by the board, I would not have a further update on that at this point.”
Noteworthy is that the board said it had not agreed to increase tuition. The issue came up as a proposal to be taken up with students at different campuses and with (ATLIB), the Association of Tertiary Level Institutions in Belize before any fee increase would be implemented.
