Union Treasurer Aaron Gaynor '05 is spearheading a new auditing system to improve the financial accountability of the secured allocated funding (SAF) groups each semester. While the treasurer reviewed secured organization's financial budgets in the past, this typically occurred only toward the end of a semester. Gaynor said that all SAF transactions would now be monitored with QuickBooks, a real-time accounting program he says will allow him and Loretta Shagoury, the Union's financial adviser, to constantly monitor expenditures.

When a secured organization makes a financial transaction, that information will have to be entered into the software which is only supported by the Windows operating system.

Gaynor said that while he knows SAF clubs are responsible with their funding, changes are needed so that the community can more easily see where a portion of their tuition is being spent. He said that students will soon be able to view all club transactions, when the Union posts them on its Web site in a few months.

"While we are a student organization, we are also in charge of a lot of money and must act like a responsible business," Gaynor said. "And this is what we're trying to do."

The new auditing system also stipulates that the seven SAF clubs must move their financial accounts to Fleet Bank, where Gaynor said he will have an easier time monitoring Union finances under one locale.

The initiative stems from the Union financial amendment last year, which Gaynor said gave his position discretion on how to install changes in monitoring Union finances. He also said the $120,000 rollover fund discovered two years ago made the need for financial review more apparent.

If a particular secured organization does not institute the new system by the end of the semester, Gaynor said that club will not receive its allocating funding in the spring.

Gaynor said he had initially proposed that the Union's financial advisor be in charge of issuing checks for different expenditures to secured organizations. But after listening to some student concerns, he said he let go of this part of the initiative to appease secured organizations that felt their independence was being attacked.

"It was also important for the secured organization to know we do not want to infringe upon their financial independence," Gaynor said, referring as to why he did not want to go through with this part of the proposal.

BTV President Nathaniel Westheimer '05 said the Union is not inflicting any abuse of power in enforcing the new auditing system. Since he said secured organizations receive a larger sum of money than senate-chartered clubs, there is a greater responsibility to the campus.

"It makes sense for there to be a live, up to the minute audit," Westheimer said. "We have an obligation to be as open to the student body as possible."

Westheimer said his only concern is that the Union, now able to see real-time expenditure updates in QuickBooks, might now question certain transactions and prevent them from occurring in the future. He said this would go against the Union constitution and SAF autonomy.

Gaynor said he would never prevent a transaction unless it went against or beyond the agreed upon budget made with him during the review period. He also said that despite the new auditing system giving him easier access to accounts, he does not plan to meet or check-in with secured organizations more than usual.

"If I approve the WBRS budget, $92,000 a year, to spend their entire funding on pizza, that's their right to spend it all on pizza," Gaynor said. "But if they spend this specific amount which we agreed upon on something else, I may ask questions. But the secured organizations are very responsible, so this is really not a problem."

Jonathan Sham '06, the director of BEMCo, another secured organization, said he has no problems with the new auditing system now that it allows his club to write their own checks.

But leaders from three other SAF groups-Archon, the Waltham Group and WBRS-said they remain fearful of losing varying degrees of independence.

One leader of the Waltham Group, Katie Hulbert '05, said in an e-mail to the Justice that she does not think her club's independence will greatly decline. But she said each time a transaction is made, she will now wonder how the Union's financial advisor is going to judge their expenditures and bank statements.

Hulbert said that this is an area where she sees "our independence declining."

Gaynor said Shagoury is a professional accountant who offers advice and information on certain matters. He said she does not even have the authority to veto any transaction and prevent a check from being written.

"[She] has experience in the real business world and notifies us of what we are doing and if we are doing anything unknowingly illegal," Gaynor said. "While she is extremely valuable to the Union, she does not even have the authority to reimburse herself for a stamp without my signature."

Archon Business Manager Diana Yarmovich '05 said the new auditing system is taking away the purpose of her role on the club. She said her job was to keep track of finances, but now the Union is doing it for her.

"They want us to keep track of our accounts, but they can monitor them," Yarmovich said, referring to the Union. "In the past, we just had complete control of the budget. I don't think there have been any major embezzlements [in secured organizations]. I just fail to see where these changes are coming from."

WBRS Business Manager Justin Drake '06 said while his club he is against some parts of the new auditing system, it agrees with the transparency it offers to the community.

"We wanted to make sure it didn't go any further since we are autonomous organization," he said.



Editors' note: The Justice is also a secured organization, receiving $30,000 of the student activities fee each semester.