Board of Regents
Reviews Financial Management Data

by Chris W. Malins

During the October 2002 Finance and Audit Committee meeting, Weldon Ihrig and Harlan Patterson made a presentation to the Board of Regents that highlighted some of the UW-wide improvements that have been made. This presentation was part of a campus-wide discussion on efficiencies and effectiveness that illustrated to the Board how the University has remained competitive both academically and administratively despite cutbacks in state support.

The information and charts that were shown from Financial Management made a compelling argument. Student Fiscal Services, for example, set a goal on Perkins Loan default rates to beat the national average of 9.9%. From a high of 13.6% in 1997, the Student Fiscal Service area was able to reduce default rates to just 3.8% in 2001.

Another example of efficiencies is in Grant & Contract Accounting. Their goal is to outperform the national benchmark of post award cost per active project. This measurement was based on a study of the top 25 research schools conducted by the national accounting firm KPMG during fiscal year 2000. Based on this study, the average cost per award was $360; the UW had a cost per award of $175, less than half the average.

These examples from Financial Management are part of a much larger body of work that touches all parts of the University, from the retention of faculty to the delivery of mail. The Board of Regents was impressed with the data collected so far and encouraged the administration to continue to look for efficiencies and effectiveness in the future. Shelley Yapp, a member of the Board of Regents, commented that “the administration should be recognized for all of the hard work and effort that went into compiling and interpreting this very important study.”

From the smaller, but very important perspective of Financial Management, every department contributed measurements, but the departments that were part of the presentation were Student Fiscal Services and Grant & Contract Accounting. The inclusion of Financial Management data in the presentation and the encouragement from upper management to continue to look for and create efficiencies are a real testament to the continuing quality efforts in our division.