IRS audit doesn't worry university
According to Vice President for Finance and Administration Dean Currie, the IRS regularly decides on a different group of organizations to audit. This year, they have decided to target universities and auto dealerships. Currie does not believe that any particular reason exists for why Rice was chosen for the audit.
"Rice generally gets audited a lot, and we generally come out clean. We will cooperate, and then they'll go away," Currie said.
According to Consulting Specialist Nic Messana in the Controller's Office, "the IRS just decided in the recent past that they wanted to audit universities." He said that the team that is conducting the Rice audit specializes in not-for-profit organizations like universities and hospitals.
Even with the stress of an IRS audit, the university is not overly worried about anything that the IRS might find.
"As far as we are concerned, there is nothing at stake, the university complies with all the laws," Messana said.
The last time that the IRS audited the university was in 1985 when it examined the university's unrelated business tax records, but the university typically undergoes regular internal audits.
"We get audited by lots of people -- by the government and by our own people," Currie said.
The university is most concerned with when the IRS will wrap up its audit.
"Hopefully, they'll be gone by mid to late summer in 1996," Messana said.
This item appeared in the News section of the December 1, 1995 issue.
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