University of Belize finances in a mess
An increment freeze has been cancelled and the increase in tuition has been put off… at least for now at the University of Belize. But that is not the big story tonight, the bombshell that was dropped earlier today is that the finances of the flagship university are in a huge mess. We have heard of the term under-depositing, and now it looks like a case of under-reporting at UB. And while the university is not saying there is missing monies, it said today that an audit report presented to the Board literally a few days ago is wholly inconsistent with the true finances. In fact, the Board is now saying the audit report is incomplete and misleading. Sources whose identity will not be revealed say that millions of dollars were “under-reported” from U.B. financials, anywhere between three to seven million dollars. Of note, however, is that the September 2009 Minutes of the Board, in the performance report ending the month of July indicated there were surpluses of one point four million dollars in the books. So what went wrong, for how long and who is responsible? That has not been answered. At the press conference held today in Belmopan the Board admitted that the reason for the freeze in increments was due to the instability of the university’s financial status which was misread due to omissions made in the financial report handed to the board. According to the board there is now an independent audit that is being done to verify the university’s finances.
Imani Fairweather-Morrison, Chair, U.B. Board
“The board of trustees discovered from a draft audit report which was released literally a few days ago that the information provided to them was wholly inconsistent with the financial position of the university. That financial information was materially incomplete and therefore misleading in our view. Unfortunately, the board placed heavy reliance on the information in coming to its June decision on the increment matter. The University of Belize must be able to rely on the information provided by the professionals it employs in these positions. The nature of the information omitted in this case was of such gravity that it would have significantly impacted on the board’s decision. The board views this omission as a very serious concern.”
Duane Moody
“Is UB broke?”
Jackie Willoughby- Sanchez, Member, U.B. Board
“I wouldn’t say U.B. is broke, but we have some new developments that caused us to go back and look at things, but I don’t think that I am in the position to say that we are broke.”
Duane Moody
“The financial status, who came up with that report? Who gave you guys the report with the omission?”
Jackie Willoughby-Sanchez
“As you have well heard, the press statement says that senior officials of the university and that is where it will remain.”
It is also known that travelling expenses were as high as ninety-six thousand dollars, food expenditure stood at a hundred and twenty-two thousand and in consultancy fees, UB spent one hundred and one thousand… and that’s only for the last quarter.
