Report 2016-130 Recommendation 41 Responses

Report 2016-130: The University of California Office of the President: It Failed to Disclose Tens of Millions in Surplus Funds, and Its Budget Practices Are Misleading (Release Date: April 2017)

Recommendation #41 To: University of California

To ensure that its spending aligns with the needs of its stakeholders, including campuses and students, by April 2020 the Office of the President should reallocate funds from the review of systemwide and presidential initiatives, as well as any administrative cost savings, to campuses.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2019

The CSA assessed related Recommendations #18, #19, #28, and #29 as fully implemented. As a result of reviewing systemwide and presidential initiatives and administrative costs, UCOP reallocated $9.6M in funds to the campuses. These reallocations have been reported in the annual FY17-18, FY18-19, and FY19-20 UCOP budget presentations to the Regents. Total direct and indirect reallocation activity over the past three years, $166.3M, is being reported in Schedule G of the November Regents item, which has been provided to the CSA.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

We are assessing this recommendation as fully implemented. According to the November 2019 Office of the President Budget to Actual Expenditures presentation, the Office of the President indirectly reallocated $10.9 million in funds to campuses between fiscal years 2017-18 and 2019-20 as a result of implementing our recommendations related to re-evaluating their systemwide and presidential initiatives and administrative cost savings. The indirect reallocations include $1.3 million in savings due to position reductions, $1 million in savings due to program reductions, and $8.6 million in savings due to its implementation of AB 97, which redirected Office of the President fund balances to campus enrollment growth.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From April 2019

The Office of the President has initiated efforts to implement this recommendation and will provide a status update on its progress at the next reporting milestone.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our systemwide initiative and presidential initiative recommendations due April 2020.

1-Year Agency Response

Implementation of this recommendation will be dependent on actions taken in response to the April 2019 recommendations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our systemwide initiative and presidential initiative recommendations due April 2019 and April 2020.

6-Month Agency Response

Implementation of this recommendation will be dependent on actions taken in response to the April 2018 and 2019 recommendations.

The Executive Budget Committee, consistent with its charter, will continue to serve in its campus-input role of making recommendations on resource allocations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our systemwide initiative and presidential initiative recommendations due April 2018 and April 2019.

60-Day Agency Response

Implementation of this recommendation is dependent on actions taken in response to the April 2018 recommendations.

The systemwide and Presidential initiatives work group will develop reporting to enable transparency. The work group will publish reports their results. Potential reallocations to the campuses will be included as applicable.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our systemwide initiative and presidential initiative recommendations due April 2018 and April 2019.

All Recommendations in 2016-130

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.