Pitt releases audit report

Pitt’s endowment is on the mend. In fact, it’s grown by more than $100 million in the past… Pitt’s endowment is on the mend. In fact, it’s grown by more than $100 million in the past year.

The Board of Trustees’ Audit Committee released audited financial statements for the 2009-10 fiscal year yesterday. The report included news of a nearly 10 percent jump in Pitt’s endowment funds and the approval of this year’s independent auditor and tax advisor.

Those announcements came during the committee’s public meeting in Posvar Hall. Emeritus Trustee Thomas Bigley chaired the meeting of about 15 Pitt officials, which lasted roughly half an hour. Only the final few minutes of the meeting were open to the public.

The auditing and tax advising firm KPMG LLP performed the yearly investigation of Pitt’s finances for the period of July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010, and reported that the changes in the University’s net assets and cash flows for that time “ended in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.”

During the last fiscal year, the University’s total assets jumped from $4.5 billion to $4.9 billion, according to the report. Part of that jump occurred in the University Endowment Fund, which increased from about $1.9 billion to $2.05 billion — an increase of about $179 million.

Pitt’s endowment lost about 20 percent of its total value in 2008.

Endowment funds are divided among some 1,800 individual funds providing financial support for scholarships, fellowships, faculty chairs, instruction and other University programs and services, according to Pitt’s website.

The University’s operating investments also increased during that period, from about $294,000 total to about $588,000. These funds include government securities, bank acceptances and certificates, corporate bonds and other obligations, according to the KPMG report.

The University’s latest report comes about a month after its Capital Campaign fund reached $1.5 billion. The Board of Trustees raised its goal to $2 billion in 2002, but it did not set a final deadline for achieving the total.

The Audit Committee, appointed by the Board of Trustees, was created “to provide reasonable assurance that the management control systems throughout the University are adequate and operating effectively,” according to Pitt’s website. The committee unanimously approved KPMG as next year’s independent auditor.