Chris Spognardi pocketed 14,000 dollars. Could be in a lot of trouble?

#51
#51
DeerPark12 said:
University credit cards were discontinued for a time after a previous university president racked up thousands of dollars in personal purchases on his university card. The state made an over reaction in banning the use of university cards for just about everything. Slowly, they have allowed use of them more, it’s finally coming back to team travel.
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No more $8,000 Grills!:banghead2:
 
#52
#52
PrattvilleVol said:
Um yeah....As a long time Plant Mgr. at several companies. That’s 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.
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Well it was not that way at the corporation that I worked at.
 
#54
#54
DeerPark12 said:
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.
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That is INSANE. Here's some cash, bring us the change. Wow.
 
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#55
#55
DeerPark12 said:
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.
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Hopefully, Spognardi is just really bad at keeping track of expenses and that money wasn't going somewhere else. Although, if that's the case, why would someone else want to hire him?
 
#56
#56
PrattvilleVol said:
Um yeah....As a long time Plant Mgr. at several companies. That’s 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.
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No, it's not. In most cases, the immediate manager does not authenticate the receipts/documentation, only verifies that it is present with the report. I am sure, as a plant manager, you did not want your operations/sales managers calling McDonalds to verify they actually have a server named Skippy that worked on the day your salesman expensed a Happy Meal to ensure it is a proper receipt.

Since the article plainly says he provided altered and fabricated documentation, it would generally be left to auditors to find the fraud, which seems to be what happened.

As a side note, you don't have to be a$$hat when you disagree.
 
#59
#59
I work in a very large corporate environment and my manager has never seen my expense reports, much less signed them.
 
#60
#60
Orange_Crush said:
I work in a very large corporate environment and my manager has never seen my expense reports, much less signed them.
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I work for a Fortune 500. That's not to say we don't have issues. My boss reviews my scanned receipts. I review my direct reports. Randomly one will be audited. They also audit some with ceartain more unusual categorized ones.
 
#61
#61
volfanhill said:
I work for a Fortune 500. That's not to say we don't have issues. My boss reviews my scanned receipts. I review my direct reports. Randomly one will be audited. They also audit some with ceartain more unusual categorized ones.
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Our finance department has a computer system where we log or expenses and mileage, scan our receipts. Someone in finance looks them over and I get reimbursed.
 
#64
#64
sanefan said:
No, it's not. In most cases, the immediate manager does not authenticate the receipts/documentation, only verifies that it is present with the report. I am sure, as a plant manager, you did not want your operations/sales managers calling McDonalds to verify they actually have a server named Skippy that worked on the day your salesman expensed a Happy Meal to ensure it is a proper receipt.

Since the article plainly says he provided altered and fabricated documentation, it would generally be left to auditors to find the fraud, which seems to be what happened.

As a side note, you don't have to be a$$hat when you disagree.
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So to summarize your pile of gibberish, I didn’t say any of that. I said multiple levels of management have to sign off on an expense report. Receipts will suffice within the date range of your business related expenses. No manager calls friggin McDonald’s to verify a receipt Skippy. Graduate HS and maybe you’ll file an actual expense report one day. Doubtful, but one can hope.
 
#66
#66
PrattvilleVol said:
So to summarize your pile of gibberish, I didn’t say any of that. I said multiple levels of management have to sign off on an expense report. Receipts will suffice within the date range of your business related expenses. No manager calls friggin McDonald’s to verify a receipt Skippy. Graduate HS and maybe you’ll file an actual expense report one day. Doubtful, but one can hope.
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Uh, yes you did, Shirley. You said Butch and/or Currie were complicit for approving expense reports WITH receipts (as indicated in the article).

You said: "Hang this bastard with the full extent of the law and hold Butch accountable for mis-management. Every manager has to sign off on an expense report. Butch and/or Currie are complicit if they signed his expense report."

Maybe your extensive experience as a plant manager can explain how an immediate supervisor (assuming that is Butch in your scenario) is responsible for doctored/fabricated receipts if they are not also required to verify the validity of those receipts?

What do you manufacture, widgets? I'll hang up and listen.

Thanks!
 
#67
#67
PrattvilleVol said:
So to summarize your pile of gibberish, I didn’t say any of that. I said multiple levels of management have to sign off on an expense report. Receipts will suffice within the date range of your business related expenses. No manager calls friggin McDonald’s to verify a receipt Skippy. Graduate HS and maybe you’ll file an actual expense report one day. Doubtful, but one can hope.
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If your goal is to come off as an insufferable prick every time you post then you are doing a bang up job.
 
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