TRAVEL AND ENTERTAINMENT FUNDS YSU says audit found no wrongs by Sweet

A YSU internal committee is reviewing travel- and business-expense policies.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A firm reviewing the travel and entertainment reimbursements of Youngstown State University President David C. Sweet has found that there was no misuse or illegal use of funds, a university spokesman said.
The Audit Subcommittee of the YSU board of trustees heard a verbal update on the review Monday from YSU's internal audit firm Packer Thomas, said Ron Cole, YSU's manager of news and information services.
A report on the matter that was due out Monday will not be complete until mid- to late July, he said.
Unclear policies
What Packer Thomas has found, Cole said, are discrepancies and unclear areas in university procedures and polices in terms of such reimbursements. He said the firm pointed out that there are ambiguities between policies and the president's contract and that it is unclear who should sign off on the president's expense reports.
The final report from Packer Thomas will detail recommendations for remedying such discrepancies, Cole said. The firm reviewed expenditures made during fiscal years 2003 and 2004, through April 2004.
In the meantime, the university has formed a separate internal committee to look into revising travel- and business-related expense policies, Cole said. The group has been reviewing policy for several months.
Sweet had asked the audit subcommittee to review his spending and expense reports in April after The Jambar, a student-run campus newspaper, ran articles questioning Sweet's travel and entertainment expenses between September 2002 and this January.
Sweet has said that his expenditures were within the bounds of policy and arrangements with the board of trustees and that they were "well within the norms" for university presidents. He also has said that much of what The Jambar reported was "taken out of context."
Reasonable vs. appropriate
Cole explained that Packer Thomas has not been asked to determine the "reasonableness" of Sweet's expenditures but only to determine the "appropriateness" as related to state law and board policy.
Walt Ulbricht, YSU's executive director of marketing and communications, said the Audit Subcommittee and board of trustees would address further matters of reasonableness after the firm's report is complete.