30:10-1-13. Relationships with Foundations
(a) Because university/college personnel are
directly responsible to the Board of Regents for their activities and conduct
as the same relates to their official positions with their respective
universities/colleges, the Board of Regents finds that it is appropriate to set
forth certain requirements which are for the best interests of the said Board
of Regents and the respective Boards of Control and are to be enforced where
university/college personnel responsible to the Board of Regents have any
relationship or association with the fiscal management of a separate corporate
foundation organized and existing for the purpose of supporting or enhancing
the objectives or operations of any university/college under the governance of
said Board of Regents. These requirements are as follows:
(1) All
university/college personnel handling monies on behalf of a foundation (whether
receiving or disbursing) shall be adequately bonded with the amount of the bond
and name of the surety being reported to the Board of Regents.
(2) Provide
the Board of Regents evidence that at least two signatures are required on any
checks written on behalf of such foundation.
(3) Ensure
that appropriate written guidelines are developed with the formal advice and
recommendation of a qualified accounting firm pertaining to the receiving,
depositing, disbursing and accounting of all monies of a foundation and that same
has the approval of the foundation’s Board of Control and are systematically
enforced by the foundation’s management.
(4) Inform the
Board of Regents of the method and frequency and the extent of the detail of
the financial reports provided to the Board of Control of such foundation.
(5) Provide
information to the Board of Regents pertaining to the procedures implemented
and regularly utilized to ensure that any gifts, donations, whether monetary or
otherwise, received by such foundation are clearly intended to be given or
donated to the foundation and not to the university/college for which the
foundation is established to support.
(6) Secure
an annual independent audit of the financial statements of such foundation by a
reputable certified public accounting firm regularly doing business with the
public at large, preferably, with experience in auditing colleges/universities
or college/university foundations, and with sufficient experienced accounting
personnel on its staff to adequately consult each other on the audit
engagement. Accounting firms selected to conduct audits should be selected with
as much attention to or concern for qualifications as given by the Board of
Regents in selecting auditors for examining the institution’s regular financial
statements. A written request should be established prior to each annual audit
between a foundation’s Board of Control and the selected auditing firm which
states the following provisions:
(A) The audit
shall be conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and
will include such tests of accounting records and such other auditing
procedures as necessary to enable the auditor to express an opinion on the
financial statements of the foundation.
(B) After giving
sufficient attention to the requirements stated above, if the auditor is unable
to express an opinion on said financial statements, a full written explanation
will be provided in the auditor’s report as to why no opinion can be expressed.
(C) An
examination shall be made of management controls (normally referred to as
“internal controls”) in place and the sufficiency or adequacy of same.
(D) Procedures
utilized pertaining to receipts, disbursements and accounting of monies, gifts,
donations are to be examined for compliance with policies of the foundation’s
Board of Control and to applicable federal and state laws.
(E) In the event
any irregularities or discrepancies, etc., are discovered, the same are to be
noted in the auditor’s report or management letter (management letters or any
supplemental notations to the basic audit report are to be sent annually with a
copy of the basic audit report to the Board of Control and Board of Regents).
(F) The auditing
firm must formally present and discuss each annual audit report with the
foundation’s Board of Control in whatever manner selected by the Board of
Control to assure that said Board is adequately and properly informed.
(G) The auditing
firm must comment upon the compliance by foundation’s management to the
Resolution adopted on February 13, 1987, by the governing Board of Regents for
the Oklahoma Agricultural and
(7) The management of the foundation will
advise the university/college President and the Board of Regents in writing on
an annual basis of when such presentations are made to the Board of Control, specifically indicating how the
Board of Control is represented at such presentations.
(b) A copy of this policy shall be forwarded to
each university/college president under the governance of the Board of Regents
and to each member serving on the Board of Control of a foundation associated
with any university/college under the governance of the said Board of Regents
with the expressed request of the Boards of Control of the respective
foundations to join with the A&M Board of Regents in adopting the
requirements listed above and that the same become a part of the official
policy of the various Boards of Control pertaining to the management or
administration of the affairs of the respective foundations.
(c)
The various Boards of Control are requested to provide a copy of the minutes
where the contents of this Resolution are considered by the respective Boards
of Control of the various foundations referenced herein and a written reply
describing actions taken in response to this Resolution is requested to be
provided from the respective Boards of Control of the said foundations on the
earliest date possible.