Money was on the minds of the governors at the Nov. 18 Board of Governors meeting.

Debbie McCoy, auditor with BKD LLP, presented the Governors with the results of an outside audit of Missouri Southern’s finances.

Included in the audit were the different components of the University’s financial systems such as accounting and the foundation.

McCoy said the audit was a review of the financial statements of Southern and not a report on the financial controls.

The audit showed nothing out of the ordinary.

“Basically, it was a clean audit,” said University President Julio León.

He said there were some items, which needed to be looked at, but the new administrative software should take care of any of the problems.

“All-in-all, it was a good report,” León said.

McCoy said the annual report also showed some of the problems with the delineation of tasks from last year were corrected for this year within the financial departments.

The Board congratulated Rob Yust, treasurer, on the job he had done to correct any issues with the previous audit and the formation of a clean audit this year.Dr. Terri Agee, vice president for business affairs, said she was pleased to see the new administrative software installations begin and expected results during the spring semester. With the new software, training will begin for faculty members sometime in December. There will also be the formation of teams among all departments to help evaluate the work process.

Team members from each department will be asked to send a representative from their department to another department to watch what occurs in the other department.

Then, the representative will complete a workflow analysis of the other department.

“You’re more objective, and you bring a different perspective,” Agee said. “It’s really a quality improvement exercise and results in a streamline efficiency.”

Agee said the teams will be used to help departments learn from other departments and improve each other in the process.

Student representative Eric Norris reported on the Student Senate. He said the Senate’s Casino Night raised $330 for United Way and thought senators would match that donation.

“That’s some pretty good money there,” Norris said.

León also reported there were budget cuts in the core educational fund at the state level. The cut amounted to around $2.5 million for the school.

He said he did not know how it would affect the University, but he said there will be a need for accommodations.

Dr. Richard McCallum, vice president for academic affairs, reported on the new agreement with joint degrees in nursing and dental hygiene between Southern and the University of Missouri Kansas City.

McCallum also said the current masters programs are going strong, and he is looking forward to several of the first graduates to walk in the graduation ceremonies in May 2006.

“There are many good things going on there,” he said.

McCallum said there are also discussions with Missouri State University and Northwest Missouri State University over other possible programs in the making.

“The whole of the future of joint degrees looks bright,” said Dwight Douglas, Board member.