The University of Missouri-Columbia campus philosophy on fiscal responsibility is based on two main tenets:
The benefit to the University of expenditures must be either readily apparent from the supporting documents or explained in an accompanying benefit statement.
The primary responsibility for ensuring that expenditures are for the benefit of the University rests with deans, directors and department chairs.
Benefit to The University
The documentation should ensure that how funds were used can be determined well after the fact, even if the principals are no longer available. Thus, each transaction must stand on its own, with sufficient information to demonstrate the benefit to the University.
Steward of Funds
The University receives its funding from diverse sources, ranging from taxpayers to students to benefactors. Regardless of the source, the University has an obligation to demonstrate that it has been a wise steward of funds entrusted to it.
Accountability
The process of accountability begins with the planning for receipt and expenditure of funds, and carries through to retaining documentation of what transpired.
Primary Fiscal Responsibility
Primary fiscal responsibility rests at the level where the expenditures are made, with those who initiate programs and make decisions on how to actually implement plans and programs. Planning is an interactive process that ultimately results in approval at the upper levels (Board of Curators, president, chancellor, vice chancellors and provost) of board policy statements and plans.
The actual details are decided at the operating level (deans, directors and department chairs) within the constraints of University policies. Ultimate responsibility for ensuring that fiscal transactions are in accordance with approved plans, programs and policies rests at the Dean/Director/Department Chair level.
Role of Deans, Directors, and Department Chairs:
Develop departmental plans and programs.
Ensure that transactions are appropriate and for the benefit of the University.
Ensure that transactions are properly documented.
Establish appropriate internal fiscal policies and procedures.
Personally review and monitor fiscal activities on a regular basis.
Role of Chancellor, Provost and Vice Chancellors:
Approve campus plans and programs and provide oversight.
Establish and interpret campus policies.
Maintain fiscal oversight for all campus programs.
Role of Accounting Services:
Assist deans/directors/department chairs in establishing appropriate departmental fiscal policies and procedures.
Make information on interpreting and implementing policies and procedures easily accessible to deans/directors/department chairs and their staff.
Recommend changes in campus fiscal policies and procedures to the provost and vice chancellors.
Review transactions on a systematic basis to test whether they include proper documentation and comply with University policies.
