Report 2016-130 Recommendation 39 Responses

Report 2016-130: The University of California Office of the President: It Failed to Disclose Tens of Millions in Surplus Funds, and Its Budget Practices Are Misleading (Release Date: April 2017)

Recommendation #39 To: University of California

To ensure that its staffing costs align with the needs of campuses and other stakeholders, by April 2020 the Office of the President should report to the regents on the amount of funds it reallocates to campuses as a result of implementing our recommendations.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

UCOP's salary-setting recommendations were reviewed by the Regents and validated by the third-party monitor hired by the Regents upon the CSA's recommendation, and by an independent third-party firm with nationally recognized expertise in compensation practices. After the reallocation of $166.3M as of April 2020, no additional reallocations back to the campuses have been possible as unrestricted fund balances have been depleted.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

We are rating this recommendation as partially implemented because of concerns about how the Office of the President implemented recommendation 23. As we discussed in the assessment of that recommendation, policy choices the Office of the President made negated any savings it would have realized from implementing our recommendation and, thus, we believe the Office of the President's implementation falls short.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

UCOP reallocated a total of $166.3M to campuses over the past four years as was presented and reported in Schedule G of the November 2019 Regents item, which has been provided to the CSA.

UCOP's salary-setting recommendations were reviewed by the Regents and validated by the third-party monitor hired by the Regents upon the CSA's recommendation, and by an independent third-party firm with nationally-recognized expertise in compensation practices. After the reallocation of $166.3M, no additional reallocations back to the campuses have been possible.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

We are rating this recommendation as partially implemented because of concerns with how the Office of the President implemented recommendation 23. As we discussed in the assessment of that recommendation, policy choices the Office of the President made negated any savings it would have realized from implementing our recommendation and thus we believe the Office of the President's implementation falls short.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From April 2020

UCOP reallocated a total of $166.3M to campuses over the past three years as was presented and reported in Schedule G of the November 2019 Regents item, which has been provided to the CSA.

Recommendation #39 requires that UCOP report to the Regents the amount of funds reallocated to the campuses. UCOP has been consistently transparent about the extensive efforts it has made to meet every recommendation, and has consulted with and reported all of its efforts on every recommendation to the Regents in more than 25 written and oral presentations over the past three years. All efforts to follow the salary-setting recommendations were reviewed by the Regents and validated by the third-party monitor hired by the Regents upon the CSA's recommendation, and by an independent third-party firm with nationally-recognized expertise in compensation practices. Both firms presented the results of their reviews in multiple public Regents meetings.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

We are rating this recommendation as partially implemented because of concerns with how the Office of the President implemented recommendation 23. As we discussed in the assessment of that recommendation, policy choices the Office of the President made negated any savings it would have realized from implementing our recommendation and thus we believe the Office of the President's implementation falls short.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2019

As a result of reviewing and completing compensation-related recommendations, including employee benefits, public-sector weighting in SMG and policy-covered positions, and narrowing position ranges, UCOP has reallocated $3.1M in funds to the campuses within the CSA's timeframe. These reallocations have been reported through the annual FY17-18, FY18-19, and FY19-20 UCOP budget presentations and several additional presentations provided to the Regents. Total direct and indirect reallocation activity over the past three years, $166.3M, is being reported in Schedule G of the November Regents item, which has been provided to the CSA.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

Full implementation of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of recommendation 23. As we discussed in the assessment of that recommendation, policy choices the Office of the President made negated any savings it would have realized from implementing our recommendation and thus we believe the Office of the President's implementation falls short.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From April 2019

The Office of the President has initiated efforts to implement this recommendation and will provide a status update on its progress at the next reporting milestone.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our staffing-related recommendations due April 2020.

1-Year Agency Response

Implementation of this recommendation will be dependent on actions taken in response to the April 2019 recommendations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our staffing-related recommendations due April 2019.

6-Month Agency Response

Implementation of this recommendation will be dependent on actions taken in response to the April 2018 recommendations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our staffing-related recommendations due April 2018 and April 2019.

60-Day Agency Response

Implementation of this recommendation is dependent on actions taken in response to the April 2018 recommendations.

The Regents have established regular reporting schedules related to audit implementation progress and the recommendations made in the report. UCOP will report to the Regents at those times throughout the year and on items recommended by the State Auditor in its report.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

The status of this recommendation is pending the Office of the President's implementation of our staffing-related recommendations due April 2018 and April 2019.

All Recommendations in 2016-130

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.