The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents has approved the formation of a special committee to evaluate the university’s operational and financial controls and oversight practices.
The Operational and Financial Controls Improvement Advisory Task Group consists of five regents and four professionals in the field of business, audit and accounting.
The task group will establish clear procedures on individual responsibility and accountability. It intends to have a report to present to the Board of Regents by its scheduled October 18 meeting. The regents have approved making the task group report public at the same time it is presented to the full board.
The decision is a continuation of the board’s August meeting that focused on findings of the university’s internal investigation into the cancelled benefit concert for the UH Mānoa Athletics Department.
“The fiscal and management oversight and responsibility for the University of Hawaiʻi rests with us,” said BOR Chair Eric Martinson. “The regents agree we need to examine our fiscal and operational policies and exercise our fiduciary responsibility to put in place effective measures.”
Martinson noted calls for an investigation by the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and sent Senator Donna Mercado Kim, chair of the Senate’s Special Committee on Accountability, a letter following the September 5 meeting of the Board of Regents that provided details of the formation of the task group and its charge.
