Southeastern Seminary audit yields suggested procedural improvements_110804

Posted: 11/05/04

Southeastern Seminary audit yields
suggested procedural improvements

By Steve DeVane

North Carolina Biblical Recorder

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (ABP)– After an unusual gift of a car to a former president's personal aide caused a stir on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, auditors made “a number of constructive suggestions for improvements” to financial procedures at the Wake Forest, N.C., school.

When Paige Patterson was president of Southeastern, Jason Duesing was his personal aide, and he now fills the same role at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, where Patterson became president Aug. 1, 2003.

But before Duesing left Southeastern in the summer of 2003, he was given title to a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix that belonged to the seminary. In exchange, Duesing's father-in-law later made a contribution to the seminary of $6,500–about half the value of the car–and was told the gift was tax-deductible, according to receipts and letters from the seminary. The school later reversed course and said it would not be a tax-deductible gift.

Ryan Hutchinson, the seminary official who arranged the gift–and later sale–of the car, is still in his role as vice president of administration at Southeastern. Meanwhile, two of the employees who later inquired about the transaction have been dismissed, though the administration says for other reasons.

The auditors' suggestions for improvements were mentioned in a letter from Colby Daughtry, a partner in the accounting firm of McGladrey & Pullen, to Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin and Phillip Mercer, the chair of the trustee's audit committee. The letter, which was provided to reporters by school officials, did not list specific recommendations. School officials did not elaborate.

The letter said the suggestions did not include changing the school's financial statements or cause the firm to adjust its “unqualified opinion” of the school's financial fitness.

During a regularly scheduled meeting, Mercer told trustees the opinion was the firm's highest rating.

He said the school had asked auditors to take a closer look at the seminary's financial procedures, in part due to the controversy surrounding the car. The more extensive investigation “found nothing untoward in any areas,” Mercer said.

In a statement released by seminary officials, Akin said the auditors' report resolved the questions raised.

“We asked the auditors to review our actions, and they found no concerns,” he said. “We have instituted some new procedures to guard against making the same mistakes again.”

The release also quoted Mercer, who said the auditors' report chastened the school's administrators, but also vindicated them.

“There were some issues in procedures, but there was no criminality whatsoever,” he said. “There were no signs of anything fraudulent or illegal. Our procedures need to be tightened up, and we need to be more thorough. We have to do a better job of tracking acquisition of fixed assets, like a car.”

He also told trustees some of the changes in Southeastern's financial processes were needed because the school is growing so fast.

In his report to the trustees, Akin said the school had more than 2,400 students last year. The number may reach 2,600 this year, he said.

Greg Warner of Associated Baptist Press contributed to this report.