Dive Brief:
- Documents show that the University of North Texas possibly overstated its financial position by $23 million since 2012.
- An anonymous complaint to the Texas State Auditor’s Office suggested that an Aug. 1, 2012, journal entry hid "thousands of unreconciled transactions" since 2004.
- An audit by Deloitte & Touche said that the university overstated its cash position by $5.9 million.
Dive Insight:
The missing cash may be the most troubling revelation — the university and its auditors have not reported where it might be. The documents showing the Deloitte audit report and an audit by the university’s internal auditors were released in response to a Denton Record-Chronicle open records request. As the documents were released, the university’s board of regents met, with Chancellor Lee Jackson laying out a plan to deal with the issues by May 31. According to the newspaper, in a separate matter involving the misuse of state funds to pay employee benefits, the university may have to repay the state millions of dollars. The university first acknowledged the finance issues in February, when three top finance officials resigned.