‘South Carolina State Still Has Some Mountains to Climb’

By Lee Hendren, The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.C.

Nov. 6–S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, the state’s paymaster, says South Carolina State University has made great strides in its financial reporting in the last few years.

Even so, the university must begin meeting the same standards as the state’s other institutions.

“The administration at S.C. State is trying hard to improve conditions on the campus. They’ve made tremendous strides,” he said in a recent interview.

“But there’s still progress needed. They’re not there yet,” he said.

Eckstrom has been a regular critic of S.C. State’s financial reporting, especially of delays in turning the school’s audits over to state budget officials. Eckstrom is a member of the state Budget and Control Board, which is made up of the state’s top financial officials.

Earlier this week, Eckstrom said S.C. State had not yet turned in two “key pieces” of this year’s audit report — the auditors’ opinion on the financial records and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” that explains variances in the accounts. S.C. State officials have quoted a staff member from Eckstrom’s office, saying she thinks she has everything needed from the school for the comprehensive state audit.

Two other state-funded entities were also late in submitting their audit reports this year, but both cited extraordinary circumstances. Only S.C.

State has been chronically tardy.

“What really concerns me is that the state has never enforced the same performance standards on S.C. State as they have on other agencies,” Eckstrom said.

He said some state officials have displayed an attitude of “casual indifference” or “tolerance” toward the institution.

“I don’t know what the motive has been for that,” he said. “Do they not think they can handle it? Does the state expect less from them than from other institutions?

“In the long run, that’s been very unfortunate,” Eckstrom said.

“It develops a mind-set in the legislature that we’ve got this little backwater, second-tier institution down in Orangeburg that can’t measure up, can’t do what other higher education institutions can do, and we don’t have to treat it as seriously as the others,” he said.

“And if the legislature can’t get timely financial information from the university, of course they use that as an excuse not to fund” their requests for deferred maintenance and capital improvements, Eckstrom said.

“South Carolina State still has some mountains to climb, but (S.C. State President Andrew Hugine Jr.) is to be commended for his willingness to take this on,” Eckstrom said.

“Too, (trustee board) Chairman (Maurice) Washington has spent a great deal of time here in Columbia, trying to gain a complete understanding” of the university’s financial situation.

“That’s what leadership is all about,” Eckstrom said.

“(Senior Vice President for Financial Affairs) John Smalls has done a great job, too,” he said.

“I’ve told all three they can’t just rely on a few good people — including (Assistant Vice President for Fiscal Management) Joe Pearman and John Smalls — to take care of all of the university’s problems,” Eckstrom said.

“I’ve warned them repeatedly, you can’t just put a few good people at the top and expect all the problems to be solved.”

“You can have the best accounting system in the world and have really competent oversight, but if the people feeding information into the system don’t understand what they’re doing, there’s no way to gain control” over the finances, he said.

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