Fla. University Finds $275,000 in Office

[DoYouEverWonder]

January 15, 2006

TAMPA, Fla. -- Three University of South Florida officials were fired after the school discovered $275,000 in misplaced checks and cash scattered throughout an office.

Nearly half the money at the school's English Language Institute -- $133,647 -- was in checks up to 10 years old and could not be deposited, said university spokeswoman Michelle Carlyon.

The cash and checks were found Dec. 21 inside desks and underneath books and office machines, among other places, Carlyon said.

The discovery came about a month after a state audit of the university found lax financial controls. The three officials were fired last week.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-university-misplaced-checks,0,5790417.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines


Keep in mind the $275,000 is just what they found, how much more went missing and ended up in someone's pocket or bank account?

[truthisfreedom]

1. ack. speaking of, i just HAVE to clean up around here.

sounds like they were running a crack house, not a college.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Welcome to the Banana Republic

where anything is possible.

[pinerow]

3. Great school...I'm an alum, and my son is in his junior year...

in my day, the English Dept was known for being overly pedantic, if that is at all possible for an English dep't...they also seem to believe that last great work of literature was by Chaucer....:shrug:

[wakeme2008]

4. LOL back in the late 70s

I knew a computer programmer that worked there, and had more personal money than brains. Accounting would frog march him and his rubberbanded stack of payroll checks every 6 months to a bank and force him to deposit them. :dunce:

[PassingFair]

7. Didn't Einstein die....

with loads of uncashed checks in his desk drawers? I think I read that somewhere...

[Lisa]

9. I heard that this was what happened when Paul Erdos died ...

He was a famous mathematician, renowned for his eccentricity (and personal generosity). He often refused payment for lectures or consultations, and gave a lot of money to people whom he felt needed it more.

http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/Opinion45.html


p.s. sometimes the people to whom he gave money (especially if it was in the form of a prize for excelling at math) also refused to cash his checks -- because they knew about his financial situation, or because they liked to have a framed Erdos check on their office walls!

http://www.maa.org/features/erdos.html

[eppur_se_muova]

10. A kernel of truth there, but blown up to urban-legendary proportions...

The Nobel foundation got curious as to why Einstein hadn't cashed his check after several weeks. They were concerned it might be some sort of political protest, so instead of risking embarassment by asking him directly, they made discreet inquiries of the administration (IAS, I presume). His secretary and an associate looked all through his house and office and finally found the check stuck in a book, as a bookmark, and forgotten.

[boobooday]

5. Dontcha hate it when the checks pile up

Faster than you can deposit them?

Honestly, I work at a university, and I believe this story could happen without malicious intent.

Sometimes putting PhD types in charge of the money is not a good idea, not because they are necessarily corrupt, but because they usually just aren't interested in managing it.

After all, in this case, if they wanted to steal it, why would they leave the checks around until they weren't even redeemable anymore?

[eppur_se_muova]

11. "...putting PhD types in charge of the money is not a good idea..."

*SIGH* I'm one of those PhD types and I can tell you it's true...handling money is not complex, but it's unnecessarily complicated because of completely arbitrary and seemingly irrational policies...Oh, and keeping track of money is tedious and *boring*. Too bad it's so useful.

[rocktivity]

6. DING DING DING! Wakeme and Boobooday, you're our grand prize winners!

Posted by Wakeme2008:
I knew a computer programmer that worked there...Accounting would frog march him and his...payroll checks every 6 months to a bank and force him to deposit them.

Posted by Boobooday:
...(P)utting PhD types in charge of the money is not a good idea, not because they are necessarily corrupt, but because they usually just aren't interested in managing it...

And they clearly weren't interested in stealing it! I think you've hit the nail right on the head--I've heard of "absent-minded professors," but this is ridiculous!

:rofl:
rocknation

[boobooday]

12. Thanks for the prize!

I am a PhD student. I have worked at universities where they put the academics in charge of the "nuts and bolts" of money management, and it is usually a disaster.

I also worked for a Dean who was accused of embezzlement when it was really just his impatience with the convoluted systems. He used his personal credit card to order supplies for the program all the time (I made the calls) and just kept really poor track of things. On the other hand, he was totally devoted to his students and the mission of the university. It broke my heart to see him lose his position over this crap.

I have also worked at universities where the faculty appointees make decisions regarding WHERE the money goes, and professional staff actually keep track of the spreadsheets. This works much better.

When I find a job (soon, PLEASE) I hope to work in the second type of university. :-)

[Lisa]

8. wow. I thought I would have to look a long time before finding ...

... an office which has made more mistakes than my school's. (For example, a couple of years ago we had a wastebasket right next to the main "In" basket ... and one day I retrieved an envelope which had accidentally fallen into the garbage, which had a student's application form and cheque.)

[tenshi816]

13. At the end of last summer

I signed up for a Spanish course at a local college and promptly got lost in the system. I was allowed to begin the course even though they couldn't find my payment, although they finally found my application. Eventually - in November - my student ID arrived in the mail. A couple of days later a cheque arrived from the college, a complete repayment of my course fee (but why???). I went to the financial office to ask about it and was told that since they were responsible for the mistake, they weren't entitled to ask me to repay the money. So, now I'm taking a Spanish course for free.

Based on the Univ. of South Florida story, it makes me wonder if this sort of thing is more commonplace than we realize.

[jsamuel]

14. to tell you the truth, USF probably didn't do it on purpose...

I know that place and they are SOOOOOO disorganized...

They even lost my application after they had already admitted me and I had to do it all over again...

I really think these people didn't steal the money, it was probably just the USF disorganization...

[Jose Diablo]

15. I was wondering where the coffee jar money went n/t

[superconnected]

16. When I was in college one of my profs told about when he

worked as an analyst at the phone company and there was a secretary who got caught with ten of thousands in checks from customers in her desk, that were several years old. She kept hiding them because she didn't know what to do with them, and she didn't want to get in trouble for not knowing.