A cappella accounting questioned

A cappella groups funded by the Student Activities Council failed last year to deposit all of their profits from performances in SAC-regulated accounts, which SAC Finance Committee Chairperson Michael Graves said is "improper." All funds from SAC activities should be deposited into University accounts as a general rule, Graves said last night. "All revenue is supposed to be put into that account," the College sophomore said. "The contrast, the difference, is what they have used improperly, or taken improperly from SAC." Take the a cappella group Pennsylvania 6-5000, for example. Last year, the group deposited $819 into its University-sponsored banking account. But according to SAC Finance budget reports, Penn-Six made $11,700 in revenues during the same time period -- a difference of $10,881. Penn--Six was not alone in its reporting discrepancies. All but one of the seven a cappella groups, Penny Loafers, have deposited one figure and reported another. Graves said the groups' unreported money could be used inappropriately. "SAC has no control over that money," Graves said. "They can hire an assassin for all we know." He added that most other SAC-sponsored groups deposit their money into their designated accounts. "This whole issue, in the committee's opinion, is [the a cappella groups] feel they have the right to be treated differently," Graves said. "They should have what everyone else has." Chord on Blues President David Elson acknowledged that his group has a non-SAC account into which a portion of the group's revenues are deposited. But he added that it is done only for convenience. "There are groups that do not deposit their money in SAC because its hard to get to," the College senior said. "It's harder to pay vendors so there are groups that keep money to pay for that. We do that, but we are by no means alone." Elson added that SAC has been aware of the practices for some time. "It's nothing that SAC doesn't know about," Elson said. "It's just that SAC Finance likes to have a certain amount of knowledge and control of where we spend our money." Penn-Six President Michael Phillips also acknowledged that his group has an off-campus account. "We have an account at a bank basically so we can write checks," Phillips said. But Graves said off-campus accounts give the groups more freedom to take long distance trips -- excursions which he says "are not within [the groups'] stated purpose." "They [SAC Finance] feel that all of the traveling is a frivolous expense," said Phillips, a College junior. "We feel quite the contrary. SAC's essential goal is to make us perform one show, on campus, per semester. You just can't have a good group that way." (CUT LINE) Please see A CAPPELLA, page 2 A CAPPELLA, from page 1

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