UWSA rethinks spending
By Nick Olynyk
News Reporter
January 16, 2008
 An error in a University of Windsor Students' Alliance’s (UWSA) computer program has added up to a smaller opening balance for 2008.
The mistake occurred in the UWSA’s 2007 year end balance report, which consequently made the 2008 opening balance inaccurately sit at -$32,000. However, once the error came to light, it was revealed that the 2008 opening balance was actually -$70,000.
The software responsible for the error, Crystal Reports, is a business intelligence program used to design and print reports from database programs such as Microsoft Access. Crystal Reports users select the numbers from existing databases that they want computed. The program then pulls those selected numbers and rearranges them in an order determined by the user.
When all the selected numbers are in order a report can be printed. Although the program seems straightforward, vice president of finance, Jennifer Collucci, claims software malfunction was at fault for the 2007 year end mistake.
“The numbers we entered in were correct. The report that was generated wasn’t pulling from the right accounting line.”
“The formulas that were put in to generate that report were put together awhile ago, and we noticed this year that it wasn’t pulling the right numbers,” said Collucci. “We’ve created a lot of new accounts, and when you create a new account that software that pulls the numbers to generate a report wasn’t pulling those new account lines.”
The miscalculation was spotted in the UWSA’s standard audit for the 2007 year. The audit is done annually to make sure all financial calculations add up, and that all accounting errors are caught.
In response to the recent mistake, a revised report is being produced by hand. The manual report is expected to take longer to complete but should ensure more accuracy.
“We are on track with our budget and everything we budgeted. We’re not over budget. What affects us is our opening balance isn’t as high as we thought it was,” stated Collucci. “We don’t have as much money as we thought we had for this year, so that is why we need to reevaluate possibly for next year what our projected opening balance is going to be.”
Collucci cites that the high cost of training for certification to use the Crystal Reports software has resulted in nobody at the UWSA office being authorized to create reports.
“There are different training levels on Crystal Reports, one to use it, and one to actually make a report, and currently in our office no one can make a report. That is why it is taking so long in fixing it. It costs quite a bit of money to get training to write a report.”
Although the error will affect the UWSA’s opening balance for 2008, Collucci says through careful budgeting, a financial crisis can be averted. Currently, The Basement pub has been given an operating loan from the UWSA that could put a strain on the student alliance’s future financial matters. At the December 20 UWSA Board of Directors meeting it was noted that The Basement’s inability to pay back the loan is hurting the student alliance’s overall balance.
To ensure that future problems do not occur, Collucci stated that the UWSA will take some preventative measures in the future.
Despite the error, student fees will not go up and no services will be affected at this time. In light of financial situation, the Board of Directors recently granted $34,261.03 from the UWSA capital fund to central administration to cover the capital costs for the remainder of the year. The UWSA hopes to end 2008 with a balance of -$17,000.
|
