Um yeah....As a long time Plant Mgr. at several companies. Thats exactly how it works. He may have been under Hart but nevertheless, your immediate Manager signs the expense report up thru upper management and finance management. Get back to me when you have a clue.
Your experience as a plant manager is completely different than how the process works in college athletics.
If you think the head football coach or the athletics director signs off on the football operations expense report, you need your head examined.
Here's how it actually works at UT: The director of operations is given an amount of cash by the athletics business office that both parties determine will be enough to cover the necessary expenses. Hotel and transportation costs are covered by direct billing to UT. All meals, incidentals and tips for meals and other services are covered by cash. At the end of the trip, the director of operations turns in the leftover cash and receipts that cover the rest. Any discrepancy is supposed to be rectified before the next travel event. In many cases, a handwritten receipt for tips for services like the hotel bellman, police escort, airport and charter air employees and waitresses is acceptable.
There's a lot about the story that doesn't add up. The state auditor report says Spognardi made up receipts to cover about $14k over a three-year period. They never alleged that he actually pocketed the money and after investigating bank and other records over a year-long investigation, they actually found there was no evidence to support the allegation that he did.
Even prosecutors agreed there was no evidence to support a theft charge. He pled guilty last week in Knox County Court to official misconduct for doctoring the receipts and will have the charge removed from his record if he stays out of trouble for a year.
Since the UT system started requiring teams to use cash instead of an official UT credit card for team travel expenses in 2005, this is the eighth time a coach or director of operations at a UT system school has been investigated by the state. It's a horrible system that is hopefully being fully corrected after all of this. I know some teams were able to use cards to pay for some things last year.
Here's the bottom line to the story. Another University has hired him despite all of this. A lot of people in the football community have blamed UT's policies for this, not him.