Last year, there was much controversy among students of Chungbuk National University because some student councils were given an F rating during audit period. Thus, CBT examined why they were given an F rating and the problem of the auditing process.
  In Chungbuk National University, a board of representatives audits independent student organizations. Its term is a year and now CheongBaekRi, the 31st board of representative, is operating. A board of representatives consists of a chief representative, college representatives, and general representatives. A chief representative audits colleges and central independent organizations. College representatives audit each department of college, and general representatives don’t have authority, but they have voting rights over personnel management and deliberations on the budget.
  When students pay the tuition for a new semester, they also pay a student union fee. A fee is used for the budget of independent student organizations. First, each organization sends budget plans to a chief representative based on their election pledges, and then a chief representative holds a regular general meeting to evaluate the suitability for each part of their budget plans. An unsuitable budget plan is revised to be reevaluated or discarded totally. Also, there is a special general meeting to deal with unexpected problems. Besides, common students who have different opinions about budget plans can send a petition to the board of representatives.
  Also, they are consistently monitoring whether each organization uses budgets properly or not. On the basis of audit criteria in regulations, they give A+ to F ratings to budgets from each department. If independent student organizations receive a low rating, they will be given a sanction which cuts the budget by 40% or suspends the budget for three months. Actually, College of Commerce and Business Administration, which missed a period to submit the evidence of the audit, was given heavy discipline to suspend their budgets for three months. After the audit is completed, a result of the audit is posted in conspicuous areas for given periods to give information to students and related persons of the university about how the budget has been used.
  It is a problem that the fault of the former independent student organizations becomes the responsibility of current independent student organizations, and a lot of friction occurs in operating schedules. Independent student organizations can’t be punished for a result of a 2nd semester audit. It can create a moral hazard. Because the term of organizations is short, moral hazards can happen, but it is too hard to resolve the problems because it is a structural problem. More discussions are needed to resolve the problem quickly, and students should be interested in the audits themselves.

By Yoo Han-bin
hb36@cbnu.ac.kr