In addition to the recent correction of an $18.9k oversight in their operating budget, ASG recently passed another bill to rectify an error in their transportation budget.
“It was brought to our attention by the budget office that our transportation budget was in the negative, [so] we [decided], we have to do a reserve pull before the semester ends because we have to make it to zero,” ASG President Cy Shimamura said.
ASG was unable to provide an exact number for how much was pulled from reserves. However, Shimamura said that the recently passed bill ensures the transportation budget is no longer in the negative.
“[This happened] because we weren’t checking daily, which is a task you’re supposed to do,” Shimamura said. “If you are checking it daily, you can see discrepancies, so that’s pretty much how it happened in the first place, with the operating budget, and right now.”
ASG uses Banner, which is a budgeting software similar to Excel, which aids organizations in maintaining multiple aspects of their budget throughout the year. Previously, ASG’s Chief Financial Officer was the only member with access.
“[One issue is that we were] not consistently checking the Banner budget. That’s pretty much the main issue,” Shimamura said. “That’s why the President, Vice President and Chief Financial Officers should all have access to Banner.”
ASG Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Hollar had the responsibility of tracking the many budgets they are in charge of. Hollar declined to comment on the second error.
Given that this is the second budgeting error this semester, Shimamura and the rest of the executive board are considering additional changes to their own policy to avoid this from happening again.
“I definitely think weekly audits should be done, maybe with the Assistant Director of Student Life. [This would] make sure everyone’s on the same page too, because I think that we noticed that sometimes they’re not on the same page with us,” ASG Chief of Staff David Proctor said.
