*From the point of view of a full professor
PRIDE
at the College of Business at the University of Southern Mississippi*
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Our core mission reflects taking PRIDE in all we do - Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, Excellence
If you have not received your newly printed copy of “Soaring to New Heights . . .” from The University of Southern Mississippi Foundation, go to www.usm.edu/foundation/news.html
This week we exceeded 110,000 hits on USMPride. Visitors from as far away as Switzerland, England and Australia, as well as most states and Canada have joined us. I hope each of you have found the experience worthwhile.
The report is very pretty and, as expected, praises the Foundation and contributors. However, the report’s focus is clearly public relations rather than substance. For example, where are the audit reports? They are required by the IHL and they should be presented with the financial statements.
If you had requested the financial statements and auditing reports through the Mississippi Open Records Act, the first thing you would notice (even if you have no accounting or auditing skills) is warning signs of mismanagement or worse. These signals are ignored at our peril and are not that difficult to address if USM administrators indeed had good intentions worthy of the trust for which they ask. Pay attention to the aphorism: To ignore history is to repeat it.
If you had requested the financial statements and auditing reports through the Mississippi Open Records Act, the first thing you would notice (even if you have no accounting or auditing skills) is warning signs of mismanagement or worse. These signals are ignored at our peril and are not that difficult to address if USM administrators indeed had good intentions worthy of the trust for which they ask. Pay attention to the aphorism: To ignore history is to repeat it.
How do financial frauds go on for so long without detection? A timely end to financial irregularities--a euphemism for financial mismanagement or fraud--is all to often fought by administrators like Scott Sullivan, former Chief Financial Officer of WorldCom Inc. or Andrew Fastow, former Finance Chief of Enron, both now convicted felons. They were abetted by auditors, a gullible press, and folks who couldn’t believe it could happen here. Hiding misconduct and delaying or avoiding checks and balances are standard operating procedures of financial mismanagement and outright fraud. (Click here for next page.)