At its Friday meeting, the MSU Board of Trustees will discuss a variety of campuswide changes, including renaming a board committee and restoring part of Spartan Stadium.
Up for approval is renaming the board's Finance Committee to the Finance and Audit Committee and making minor changes to its responsibilities.
"Across the country, you see corporations, both public and private, enhancing and stressing the important role that audit committees play," board Chairman David Porteous said. "At MSU we wanted to make sure that we're very consistent with that emphasis."
The changes were recommended because of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. The legislation came after Enron Corp. faced federal indictment charges for, among other crimes, destroying audit documents.
The Sarbanes-Oxley legislation is a "transparency law" that requires CEOs of for-profit companies to sign off on a corporation's accounting policies.
Following the legislation, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, or NACUBO, thought some parts of the legislation would be beneficial to university boards, said Damon Manetta, spokesman for NACUBO.
NACUBO recommends university auditors report directly to a school's audit committee, Manetta said.
"Although the legislation applies only to for-profit companies, there are a couple of very important concepts for universities," Manetta said. "We recommend the trustees have oversight over audits rather than having everything be so internal."
If the board approves the name change, the committee would be responsible for overseeing the annual audit and financial reporting process.
Board members also will consider changing the scope of the renovations to Spartan Stadium to involve restoration of the west upper stands.
The work includes new waterproof deck coating, a repair of deck cladding and other structural replacements.
Trustee Joel Ferguson said revamping the stadium is a smart move for MSU.
"The stadium is a good deal for us," Ferguson said. "It's going to pay for itself and allow alumni and others to make bigger contributions to our programs."
