President Napolitano sent the following message to UCOP staff on April 25:

Dear Colleagues,

As you may know, for the past several months the California State auditor has been conducting an audit of selected Office of the President budgetary policies and practices. The audit report was released earlier today and included recommendations regarding our budget processes and several personnel-related topics such as workforce planning and UCOP salary ranges. As is customary, the State auditor posted the report online and we expect to see news coverage about it.

The Office of the President — and its entire staff — play a vital role in supporting and providing leadership for the UC system and I want you to know that this critical work you do is deeply valued. From launching initiatives that leverage our systemwide strength to addressing pressing public issues, to improving the transfer process for community college students, to negotiating State and federal funding, to effectively managing programs for our employees and retirees, the work we do here at UCOP is key to maintaining UC’s standing as the finest public research university in the world.

Since joining the University, I have worked with many of you to implement measures that ensure careful resource management, transparency and accountability, and improve UCOP operations. I am proud of the significant progress we have made, and continue to make.

That said, all organizations can always be improved, and we welcome constructive suggestions. I believe most of the recommendations in the auditor’s report align well with and build on our ongoing efforts to continually improve. To ensure these audit recommendations are implemented in a timely and thorough manner, I have assembled an internal UCOP task force led by Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Rachael Nava. These efforts will include revamping UCOP budget presentations to the UC Board of Regents, undertaking an analysis of certain employee reimbursement policies, and enhancing our UCOP budget process. Other recommendations align with existing activities, such as our divisional strategic planning efforts and the inclusion of workforce planning in this latest UCOP budget development cycle.

But while the audit report contained many helpful recommendations, I am disappointed by its overall tone, and many of the assertions it makes about our practices are either misleading or simply wrong.

You can find more information about our response to the audit here.

You can see a video response from the Chair of the Board of Regents, Monica Lozano here.

In closing, I want to reemphasize the value UCOP brings to the University of California and beyond, and that your individual contributions and those of your UCOP colleagues make that possible. We have a lot of important work ahead of us and we wouldn’t be able to do it without you. Thank you for all you do.

Yours very truly,

Janet Napolitano

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