The University of Hawaii’s internal auditor is recommending the university tighten its travel policies after reviewing more than $13 million UH spent on travel last year, covering travel and advances for some 8,500 authorized trips mostly for university employees.

In a report this week to the Board of Regents, the university’s Office of Internal Audit said it found some travelers are slow to reimburse UH for travel advances that exceed actual expenses. In one instance more than seven months lapsed before an employee repaid the university.

The auditor reviewed travel expenses over the last three fiscal years to gauge compliance with policies and guidelines for university- sponsored travel. Over that time period, the amount UH spent on university travel increased by nearly 13 percent from $11.7 million on 7,375 trips in fiscal 2015 to $13.2 million on 8,564 trips in fiscal 2017.

With the exception of athletic travel expenses for UH Manoa and Hilo, which include student athletes, the remaining travel expenses reviewed involved university personnel. The audited expenses do not, however, reflect research-related employee travel processed by the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii, or RCUH. The research organization last year reported $12.5 million in travel expenses, primarily funded by federal or private grants.

The compliance review found the departments with the most travel expenses last year were:

>> UH-Manoa athletics: $3,003,961, including $1,291,357 in travel advances.

>> UH-Hilo athletics: $923,622, including $536,025 in travel advances.

>> UH-Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources: $638,615, including $134,332 in travel advances.

>> UH-Manoa College of Education: $606,331, including $221,518 in travel advances.

>> UH-Manoa College of Social Sciences: $395,860, including $126,329 in travel advances.

The review said the largest individual travel expenses other than for athletics included:

>> Kapiolani Community College academic support staff member: $83,716, eight trips.

>> UH-Manoa scholarship coordinator: $56,355, seven trips.

>> A UH-West Oahu director: $54,038, six trips.

>> UH-Maui College chancellor: $42,519, 41 trips.

>> UH-Manoa admissions counselor: $42,501, nine trips.

Glenn Shizumura, director of the Office of Internal Audit, told the regents Independent Audit Committee on Thursday that overall travelers appear to be following UH’s travel policies, including submitting authorization documents on time to the university’s electronic travel system.

“Over the last several years, compliance has in fact improved substantially,” he said. “One area that we noted that still requires some level of improvement — because we deemed that area to probably be the riskiest area — would be reimbursement of excess travel advances. It still appears that a significant number of university travelers have not reimbursed the university for funds received in advance that exceeded actual cost.”

As part of its review, Shizumura’s office selected a sample of 25 travel requests, including 13 that requested travel advances to cover such reimbursable expenses as meals, transportation, lodging and incidental items. For those 13 trips, the report found:

>> The average travel advance was $13,800.

>> Ten of the 13 travel advances exceeded travel expenses, requiring repayment.

>> The average repayment was $4,300.

>> The average time to repay advances was 62 days, ranging from four to 216 days.

The report says in total 378 trips with travel advances required repayment last year. UH policy requires reimbursement within 21 calendar days from the end date of the trip.

Shizumura recommended the university consider alternatives to issuing checks for travel advances. Based on reviews of travel policies at comparable universities, the report suggested, for example, reloadable debit cards to cover per diem expenses; travel credit cards for frequent travelers; or purchasing cards, also known as pCards.

Under current policy, travelers with outstanding repayment balances are supposed to be ineligible for travel advances, but the audit found that rule isn’t consistently enforced.

The report recommended imposing “escalating consequences” for travelers who violate the repayment policy. Examples recommended in the report include written notice, temporary suspension of travel advances and a permanent moratorium on travel advances.

In a written response to the audit’s recommendations, officials with the university’s Disbursing and Payroll Office, which processes travel payments and enforces travel policies, appeared amenable to the suggestions. Regent Michael McEnerney, chairman of the Independent Audit Committee, asked the office to report back in June with implemented changes.

University spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said UH is “always looking to improve the way money is spent to make sure it is done effectively and efficiently.” He noted that the university’s 10 campuses are spread across the islands and that 4,808 of the trips taken last year were in-state. He added that travel in general is necessary to build active national and international engagement.