But the analysis of UB was hampered by scant information, Bunsis said in his report.

He pointed out that a link to UB’s 2017-18 financial overview wasn’t publicly available on the university’s website until a month or two ago and that no prior financial overviews were available on the site. The overviews could be accessed only if someone had a UB email account and administrator permissions, he said.

“This situation is simply inappropriate and unprecedented for any public university I have examined,” he said.

Bunsis said UB does not post its budgets online, nor does it make its common data sets prior to 2018 publicly available online, “in contrast to every public university I have examined.” UB administrators also did not report some financial information in a “consistent or reliable manner,” Bunsis added.

In an interview, Bunsis stood by his characterization of UB’s lack of transparency on financial matters, and he pointed out that Stony Brook – which like UB is part of the State University of New York system – and the City University of New York system, which he also has analyzed, make much more financial information available and in a much more timely manner than UB.