The level of monitoring ranged from very little to very extensive. Some academic units have developed internal systems to monitor expenditures posted to their accounts. Not having sufficient procedures to monitor accounts increases the possibility of inappropriate expenditures occurring and budgets being overspent. Our review indicated that while the University ensures overall budgetary authority is not exceeded, expenditures in excess of established budgets for individual accounts are not uncommon at the University. Part of the reason why individual accounts may exceed their established budgets is that academic departments do not use available expenditure and budgetary information to help them monitor accounts that they are responsible for.
Budgets form the basis for controlling the expenditure of funds.
For budgets to be meaningful, responsible personnel must ensure that funds are spent within established budgets. To accomplish this, the University should ensure that responsible personnel use available tools to monitor expenditures and budgetary compliance. This can be done through educating appropriate personnel on the tools available for monitoring accounts and then holding those personnel accountable for compliance with budgetary policies. The University is in the process of acquiring a new financial management system which staff believe will provide a better capability for budgetary monitoring. With the installation of the new system, we recommend the University of Colorado ensure that appropriate personnel are educated in the use of tools available to monitor expenditure and budgetary information and hold those personnel accountable for complying with budgetary policies.