The fact that this report has been leaked is difficult for Finance director Dennis van Zijl to swallow, he says. 'I find it very difficult that an internal report has been leaked by someone. You only do that by deliberately causing harm, either to people or to the UT. In the world outside the public sector, such a leak is not done and I think we find that at the UT too. In any case, this has hit me very hard, but also on other people involved.'
No grip
As much as Van Zijl condemns the leak, a compact version of the report largely confirms the picture as painted in the Tubantia article. The UT is 'insufficiently in control', the report says. 'Administrators at various levels of the UT organisation are too late in adjusting the organisation and have to respond to surprises'. According to the external consultancy firm Improfin, this is due to a poorly functioning 'management control system'. As a result, the UT has no financial control over the functioning of the organisation. 'The 'behaviour' of the organisation is therefore difficult to adjust. That breaks down when it matters.'
The consultancy firm also notes that within the UT 'there is no doubt that hard work is being done', but: 'There is insufficient objective picture of the efficiency and purpose of all that work. Simply because concrete goals and frameworks for the various levels are lacking'. 'There is a big discrepancy between the structure of the organisation and the actual operation in terms of behaviour and respect for the rules of the game.'
'Lagging behind the facts'
The report also notes that at the UT 'the diversity is enormous and the unity is very limited'. 'The financial function spends too much time on 'repairs' and bringing financial hygiene up to standard. Is constantly lagging behind the facts, both centrally and decentrally.'
These are razor-sharp words, which are placed in a certain context by the consultancy firm. According to Improfin, it is not a reproach to the financial function itself. 'It is simply insufficiently in position and lacks a mandate to take action. The added value is therefore (too) limited and that can be improved', according to the report.
Improving financial hygiene
However, an improved 'management control system' must be introduced at the UT as soon as possible. The UT must also quickly improve the 'financial hygiene' in the field of time and leave registration, (project) administration and other control points, which is the most important precondition. At the same time, the 'cultural values' at the UT need attention, according to Improfin, which concludes the report with ten recommendations. 'However, change and improvement stand or fall with the operation and therefore the behaviour of the organisation; Both outside and inside Finance & Control.'
Van Zijl says that the so-called 'financial function' at the UT has had the desire to improve the quality of its work for years. ‘But there is absolutely no question of financial chaos, as Tubantia outlined,’ says the Finance director. 'The fact that our austerity goals are not being met everywhere has to do with the autonomy of faculties and service departments; This is how universities are set up. That autonomy does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. This is also what the report says: autonomy is good, provided there are certain frameworks. We as UT have done it without those frameworks. That went well for years, but not anymore. Now that we have to tighten the reins, it turns out that the reins are not attached to anything.’
Van Zijl hopes that this will improve soon. 'We need to get a culture where it makes more sense to hold each other to agreements. And that we are going to formulate clear frameworks and key performance indicators,' he says. 'It is also important that we get our accounting much more uniform and carry it out in the same way. Because at the moment that still differs per faculty and service department.'
How to move forward? Those involved will meet at the beginning of December. This must result in a timeline and agreements. By the end of January, Van Zijl hopes that both the aforementioned 'financial hygiene' will be in order and that there will be a well-functioning management control system. 'We will also discuss the other recommendations from the report and how we can apply them within the UT. We prefer to do this step by step, rather than with a big bang,' says Van Zijl.
background and reason for the investigation
In the past year, budgets were difficult to achieve, it turned out to be difficult to adjust results and the final deficit deviated from forecasts. Partly after the management report in the spring already showed that the UT would not achieve its austerity targets for 2024 and in view of the government's upcoming cutbacks, the Executive Board instructed Finance Director Dennis van Zijl in July 2024 to map out the 'fitness' of the financial function. Van Zijl called in Improfin for this, which then held discussions with about thirty people involved, from the Finance director himself to service directors and business controllers in the services and faculties.
