Ryan Bromsgrove
Student embezzled $27,000 from Business Students’ Association
BSA points to bank error in embezzlement case
April Hudson
Staff Reporter
Jan 25, 2012
A student embezzled more than $27,000 from a faculty association at the University of Alberta, according to a statement released Monday to Faculty of Business students.
In their statement, the Business Students’ Association (BSA) revealed that $27,745 was stolen from a BSA bank account over the course of the summer, a fact which the association became aware of in August 2011.
When asked, the BSA said they could not comment on the investigation or the identity of the student, but BSA President Kimberley Menard said that the association is working with the Students’ Union to ensure that this does not happen to any other clubs in the future.
“Our internal controls are pretty tight already,” Menard said. “We’re just making sure that if an error is made in the future, we’re able to catch it sooner.”
The BSA statement said the student in question acted alone, although all transactions are supposed to require two authorized signatures. Menard was unable to elaborate on how the student was able to act on their own, although their statement indicated it was due to a bank error.
Students’ Union Vice-President (Academic) Emerson Csorba confirmed that the SU and the BSA have been working together with the Office of the Dean of Students to investigate the issue.
“We’ve been doing a lot of investigating over the last few months, just in terms of looking at the financial procedures of the BSA,” Csorba said.
“The BSA has been handling this well over the last few months, and we’ve been working with the Dean of Students to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, and at the same time that something like this can’t happen to other faculty organizations.”
According to Csorba, the SU learned about the embezzlement in early December.
“I wouldn’t say that the BSA kept this to themselves,” Csorba said. “When something like this happens, it can be a bit startling just because of the magnitude. But we’ve had a pretty good relationship in terms of working with them — I’d say that (our) relationship is characterized by trust.”
Csorba added that the issue has remained confidential until recently because the student had launched an appeal regarding a Code of Student Behaviour charge.
Although she couldn’t comment on the specifics of the case, Deborah Eerkes, the university’s discipline officer, clarified that in cases of theft or embezzlement, an appeal could be launched once it’s determined that the student violated the Code of Student Behaviour. The appeal board would read over the case and come to a final and binding decision.
“There would be all kinds of things to take into account, like how much was stolen, whether the student was already involved in paying it back,” Eerkes said.
“The range of sanctions (begins with) restitution, but also (includes) things like a conduct probation, or various levels of suspension. Expulsion would be the worst that could happen.”
Elaine Geddes, associate dean for the School of Business’ undergraduate program, stressed that the individuals involved in the investigation are obligated not to provide any information about the student in question.
“People are criticizing the BSA for not identifying this person,” Geddes said, adding that under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Code of Student Behaviour, and other university regulations, the BSA is not permitted to do so.
In their official statement, the BSA wrote that the embezzlement was made possible because of a bank error in setting up ATM privileges when the signing authorities were changed for the 2011/2012 year.
“The bank changed provisions on the BSA student account, which was done without the knowledge of the rest of the students,” Geddes explained. “We believe the bank is at fault. Whether or not we’re able to do anything about that is an open question at this stage.”
Geddes added that the BSA has rules in place that should have prevented this from happening.
“What they need to do (now) is provide some way of catching mistakes of this kind before they turn into what this turned into,” Geddes said. “But it should never have happened in the first place, considering the safeguards they already had.”
More than half the stolen money was recovered, but Geddes could not provide a precise amount.
“I have been involved in this from day one, and these students (in the BSA) have done their best to try to properly safeguard the financial resources of students in the School of Business,” Geddes said.
“It’s unfair what they’re being required to go through now, because they have been victims of a crime, and they’re being re-victimized all over again.”
UAPS Director Bill Mowbray confirmed that the student implicated in the embezzlement was charged under the Code of Student Behaviour, and added that the Edmonton Police Service still has a file open for this case.
The EPS officer in charge of reviewing the case was not available for comment as of press time.
Comments
Why were the Edmonton Police not notified? This is a horrible PR mess for the BSA, especially considering the leaking of personal information news that came out a few days ago. Are they going to release the name of the individual?
Posted by Anonymous on Jan 24, 2012
If this was a bank error that led to a single person having signing authority… Shouldn’t the bank be responsible as they did not follow the mandates of that particular account?
Posted by Tuna on Jan 24, 2012
So typical of the BSA first a large sum of money goes missing, and they hid it for month and months. Then they send out some horrible email, not giving us any vital information like how much was returned, if they were exec (which they probably were so it could only have been one of three people) and what that persons name is. If that person is going to be charged, this is a lot of money and finally if his/her degree will be revoked. Finally, the BSA claim that it wasn’t their fault it was a banking error. Come on own up to your responsibilities.
Posted by a business student on Jan 24, 2012
Under Student Union student clubs are required in their constitution to have dual signing authority for their finances. Obviously they did not have this setup and the person that made the withdrawal had sole access to the account. They should of simply setup dual signing authority and this mess would of never happened.
Posted by TinCan on Jan 24, 2012
Having dealt with the BSA as the president of another student group, I’m not surprised one bit by this news. It’s not that I expect this type of behaviour from a UofA business student, it’s that the culture of business and business education at the SOB is broken, plain and simple. These kids deal with massive amounts of money, the practically play with it like it’s lego. Meanwhile other clubs either rely on them directly or look at them with both disdain and envy. What other group is allowed to profit from Beer Gardens? NONE. What student group has the level of sponsorship and trust the BSA has? NONE.
Don’t get me wrong. Their exec members are extremely hard working and of course, somewhat cold-handed in their practice. They have no problems eating each other alive. Combine these facts and of course you get an event such as embezzlement. Calling it a bank error is standard PR, we all know it. This is a criminal act as far as I’m concerned, and even if that particular student is protected, this not only puts a gigantic human stain on the faculty’s reputation, but it also acts as a spectacle and stereotypes the rest of the SOB students. You can try to make this all go away, but in doing so, you will leave behind a large ethical question mark.
Finish the investigation, punish the student appropriately and clean house.
Posted by Anonymous on Jan 25, 2012
” These kids deal with massive amounts of money, the practically play with it like it’s lego. ”
” They have no problems eating each other alive. Combine these facts and of course you get an event such as embezzlement. ”
At former president of some random club:
Simply untrue generalizations that discredit your entire post as ignorant.
Posted by Anonymous on Jan 25, 2012
Pertaining to the “generalizations” above:
1. I know how much money it takes to run a beer gardens, and I know how much they make as well. I know how much the operating budget for a year is. I know how much money a sponsorship from a major company is, or how much they pay to advertise in a BSA publication. I know how much money goes into putting a BSA logo on a water bottle or a jacket, and I know how much money goes into sending students to conferences.
Need anymore examples? Add all of it up, you have an enormous chunk of change that other “RANDOM CLUBS” don’t even come close to, not even the engineering clubs. Many clubs operate the entire year on 4-digit budgets if they are lucky, not SIX.
- They don’t have a problem firing execs because they ‘underperform’. That’s a fact. Everyone works hard to get elected and they can lose that position in a month.
I understand the right to be defensive, I would be too if I was in a business school where student embezzlement took place. You could have picked more important points to be critical about, but the fact that you don’t think money is thrown around is just funny to me. Perhaps you’ve had one too many free energy drinks from the BSA office, I was offered some of that punch too! And BSA execs may be friends, but that doesn’t stop people from the cold, ‘business-as-usual’ routine. It’s one of the big reasons that turns SOB students away from being a part of the BSA… NOT that they don’t appreciate free Amp’d of course.
Posted by Anonymous Random Club'er on Jan 25, 2012
Doesn’t embezzling imply some sort of cover-up? Withdrawing money from an ATM just seems like theft to me.
Posted by AJ on Jan 25, 2012
Be nice to Business students! This guy or gal acted alone most likely, and people shouldn’t say all of them are scum, because they’re not. For the matter of taking forever to go public, that’s the exec’s decision with some pressuring from the U - again not the choice of your average student in business. I’m not in business, but the ones I know who are wouldn’t do this; it’s not something encouraged. Just an unfortunate incident that should be dealt with and moved on from.
Posted by Cody on Jan 26, 2012
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