Features

The Chief Financial Officer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was placed on administrative leave last week after a routine audit uncovered faulty bookkeeping practices. 

Lab officials said the mistakes are purely unintentional and that there is no evidence of fraud. 

The move heightens concerns about the operation of national laboratories run by the University of California in Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos, New Mexico. 

Last November scandal erupted at Los Alamos National Laboratory after investigators found that computers had been stolen and two building managers had billed thousands of dollars in hunting and camping equipment to the lab. Eighteen lab officials including the director were fired in the aftermath of the scandal. 

Berkeley Lab spokesperson Reid Edwards said any errors uncovered in the audit performed by Pricewaterhouse Cooper were “nowhere near the magnitude” of Los Alamos. 

“Our bookkeeping practices made it impossible for the auditors to finish the audit,” he said. Among the mistakes, Edwards added, lab accountants charged expenses to the wrong accounts.  

The errors were grave enough to convince UC officials to place lab Chief Financial Officer William A. Wasson on administrative leave while the university continues to inspect lab accounting procedures. Wasson, who Edwards said had been with the lab for a few years, faces a range of possible penalties from dismissal or suspension to a letter of concern. 

UC enlisted Livermore Laboratory Deputy Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Fernandez to sort out the accounting discrepancies and prepare the lab audit, which has still not been completed. 

“One of the nice things about managing three laboratories is that we can call on somebody when we see they can clearly help us,” said UC spokesperson Chris Harrington.