Following the Duke Bar Association's 27 bounced checks, which amassed a total of $682 in fees, members of the organization said they expect a full report from a certified public accountant on the state of the group's accounts within the next two weeks.
DBA had originally hoped to have the report completed by the beginning of March, but it has been delayed by a variety of factors.
The group voted Feb. 5 to hire an outside accountant to perform a review of the books. A week later, they decided to ask Leta Lloyd-who was recommended by law school personnel and unaffiliated with the University-to complete the task. After her name was printed in a Feb. 13 story in The Chronicle, however, Lloyd withdrew her name from consideration.
DBA executive members said that her withdrawal was due in part to her attribution in The Chronicle. Lloyd could not be reached for comment.
At a Feb. 17 emergency session of DBA's executive board, the group opted to ask another CPA whose name they would not release to The Chronicle. The start of the review was postponed, however, because most CPAs were unable to take on any additional work in the face of the impending March 15 corporate tax filing deadline, members of DBA's executive board said.
"The problem was finding someone to handle this during tax season," said second-year law student and DBA's new president David Dixon, who was elected in DBA's general elections in early March. "Every action we could take was taken."
The review is in response to the fees incurred after DBA's former treasurer and third-year law student Katy Drechsel bounced 27 checks. In addition to the general review, the CPA will decide if, in his opinion, all the DBA funds were in the correct accounts, Dixon added.
Both Dixon and DBA's new treasurer, first-year law student Alaina Harrington, said that the review did not affect the funding of any of the school's organizations.
The review should demonstrate that "this situation regards nothing more than a clerical error," Dixon said.
After the Feb. 5 meeting, Drechsel said the checks bounced because of her effort to keep most of DBA's funds in the organization's savings account. She said she was under the impression that Wachovia, DBA's former bank, would automatically transfer funds from the savings account into the checking account to cover draughts-but the bank does not perform this function.
Following Drechsel's reporting of the bounced checks, DBA opened an agency account with the University. Funds in the agency account's savings will be automatically transferred to the checking account if needed.
In the aftermath of the bounced checks, DBA also altered their constitution to increase the reporting requirements of the treasurer to the board and of the secretary to the students.
The pending review complies with DBA by-laws, which state that such a task may be performed yearly, although an evaluation has not been completed in recent years. Moreover, Dixon said, the report may provide useful information to this year's treasurer.
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