COMMON AUDIT ISSUES
UW-Foundation Gift Deposits
We continue our review of Foundation gift receipts handling by departments. While departments are doing a good job handling these funds we want to highlight a few recurring issues that have been identified and share them with you. Please note our review focused on Foundation gifts that department received directly from donors.
- Some departments were not aware of the Chancellor's memo regarding UW-Madison and Foundation Policies. This memo provides guidelines and policies for acceptance of gifts to the Foundation, their processing and expenditure. See "How to Deposit Cash/Checks Received as Gifts to the University".
- In a few instances designated gifts were deposited to departmental general accounts. The University has an obligation to monitor designated gifts to ensure the intent of the donor is met when the funds are spent. If a gift is given to a particular program/project, the gift and expenses must be traceable to that program/project until the funds are expended. Depositing such gifts to general accounts makes their use difficult to monitor. If you do not have a specific account for a designated gift it is essential you maintain a good "shadow system" for monitoring or create a separate Foundation (and UW) gift account.
- Not all gifts-in-kind were reported. University policy requires all gifts-in-kind, regardless of the value, be reported to the Board of Regents. This must be done on Gift-in-Kind Transmittal Form (UW84-1) .
Some account titles no longer reflect the nature of the gift. Please take time to review and update the titles and purpose in both the Foundation and University gift accounts.
Refer to the University Archives and Records Management Services (ARMS) Bulletin #10, "Management and Support Documentation for UW Foundation Receipts and Expenditures" for retention requirements.
Business Services News - December 2004