UA: Prosecutors Report Confirms Pedersons Actions
by April 29, 2014 4:19 pm 101 views
In a six-page letter sent Monday to a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, the deputy prosecuting attorney David Bercaw of the Fourth Judicial District determined that Don Pederson, vice chancellor for finance and administration of the University of Arkansas, did not make false representations to the legislative audit in his execution of the Management Representation Letter on Oct. 25, 2012, as part of the regular fiscal year 2011-2012 Audit.
The UA issued a news release on the matter Tuesday afternoon.
State representative Nate Bell of Mena had requested in December that the Washington County prosecutor’s office look into the matter of whether Pederson provided a false document or statement to the Legislative Audit Committee in October 2012.
After a thorough investigation of the matter, the prosecutor’s office determined there was no wrongdoing by Pederson.
“I appreciate the careful attention to this matter made by the prosecuting attorney’s office and agree completely with the findings of this review. The report speaks for itself,” Pederson said in the news release. He has led the university’s division of finance and administration for nearly 16 years.
The issue was raised in the aftermath of a budget deficit in the U of A division of university advancement. That deficit has since been eliminated by using university reserves — the balance of which will be repaid by the Advancement Division.
An outcome of the deficit was the development of additional financial accountability measures that have been put into place across the university, strengthening its system of checks and balances.
“We are most appreciative of the due diligence by Mr. Bercaw that led to this outcome,” UA Chancellor David Gearhart said in the news release. “We believe this is the appropriate conclusion. At this point, we are actively engaged in moving forward toward our goal of being nationally recognized as a top 50 public research university and planning our next capital campaign.”