About
Welcome to OpenUA, the University of Arkansas Expenditure Transparency website!
In 2011, the 88th General Assembly of the Arkansas Legislature enacted legislation,
codified as Arkansas Code 6-61-137, that required state-supported Institutions of
Higher Education to present expenditure data on a website operated by each institution.
In support of the University’s commitment to transparency
and accountability, and in compliance with Arkansas Code 6-61-137, OpenUA was
created to present a searchable database of expenditure records. It contains
expenditure records for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and other entities of the UA System
whose accounting records are maintained at the Fayetteville
campus. They include the (Division of Agriculture) Agricultural Experiment Station,
Arkansas Archaeological Survey, Criminal Justice Institute, Clinton School of
Public Service and System Administration.
Although the (Division of Agriculture)
Cooperative Extension Service is included in the University’s annual financial
report, expenditure records presented on this site are limited to expenditures
processed via the University’s accounting system. A separate stand-alone
accounting system is maintained by Cooperative Extension Service and is the
primary system used to record their activities.
Disclaimers
The data contained on OpenUA is derived from general ledger accounting
records and is raw, unaudited and unconsolidated data. Therefore, it will not agree
with amounts displayed in budget documents, financial statements or supporting schedules and is not
intended to supplement or replace the annual audited financial report.
Information that is not permissible for posting under the Arkansas
Freedom of Information Act of 1967 and federal laws or regulations is not included.
Certain Payee Names have been removed in order to protect the privacy of individuals,
in accordance with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations or
where it might be a violation of protected information. These redacted names appear
as “Privacy Protection Required.”
Certain expenditures are aggregated and others are shown in detail depending on
their nature. Payments to students for scholarships and other financial aid are
aggregated to comply with privacy regulations. Certain other payments to students
are commingled in classifications where it is not possible to identify all student
transactions and redact names appropriately. Consequently, expenditures where known
payments to students were made, but cannot be individually redacted, have been reported
in the aggregate. In future periods, the University plans to make enhancements to the
accounting records that will permit individual reporting of transactions in these
categories with appropriate redaction of names.
Expenditures by vendor include all applicable taxes associated with the transaction,
regardless of whether remitted to the vendor at the time of sale or to a taxing authority
in a separate payment.
Getting Started
The University of Arkansas operates on a fiscal year that begins on July 1 and
ends on the following June 30. OpenUA presents data beginning with the fiscal year
ended June 30, 2012. The web site will be updated monthly, and data will be accumulated
until ten complete fiscal years are available. Each expenditure record contains
payee/vendor, payment date, payment amount and category fields. OpenUA is organized
by fiscal year and provides searching and drill down capability by payee, by category
or by date.
Email questions to: openua@uark.edu