A recent legislative audit of West Virginia Universitys athletic department finances indicated nine procedural violations, but no wrong doing or misappropriation of funds, University officials said Monday.
Special assistant to the president for external relations David Miller said that overall, the University is pleased with the outcome of the audit.
“There were no material issues identified; all were procedural issues that we needand wantto clean up and correct.”
The audit, presented Sunday to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance, indicated that WVU failed to seek reimbursement from the WVU Foundation for compensation paid to the head football and basketball coaches. Another procedural violation included paying maintenance employees out of an incorrect fund.
“The issue of reimbursement for these coaches was not an error on the part of the Foundation, but a procedural issue on the part of the University for not seeking transfer of these funds,”said Narvel Weese, assistant vice president for planning.”The Foundation serves as the fiduciary of gifts for the benefit of the Universitys colleges, schools and departments. As such, the Foundation disperses funds upon the request of the Universityproviding the expenditures are consistent with the specific terms and restrictions of each respective fund.”
Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong said the procedural changes as recommended have already been corrected.”The department undergoes at least two to three audits per year, both internal and external, and with the exception of the occasional procedural issue, our audits have remained clean.”