Dickinson State finance investigation calls for more oversight, support from University System

An accounting firm’s investigation into the financial management and reporting at Dickinson State University has yielded a group of recommendations, including more support and oversight from the North Dakota University System.

The University System, led by Commissioner Brent Sanford, has been discussing creation of a shared services system to support North Dakota’s smaller colleges that have struggled to attract and retain employees with expertise in areas such as accounting, payroll and financial aid. 

The investigation was triggered by the dismissal of the vice president of finance at Dickinson State University in December 2025, Deputy Commissioner Meredith Larson told the Legislature’s Higher Education Funding Review Committee earlier this month. Larson, Sanford and Dickinson State President Scott Molander discussed the results of the investigation by investigative firm CliftonLarsonAllen with the committee.

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University System officials told investigators that poor cash flow management put the university at risk of not being able to meet payroll obligations in December 2025.

Larson said the report shows that there needs to be “a layer of validation” at the University System office.

“I think we have learned that it is really critical to engage in more aggressive performance management with people when there are signs that somebody is not — particularly your VP of finance — is not responding to requests, doesn’t seem to have the requisite knowledge,” Larson said. 

The man at the center of the investigation, Leslie Wietstock, the former DSU vice president, said in an interview that he warned DSU officials that cash flow was an issue because of construction and other spending. He said he secured a line of credit to ensure the university had cash until it could hold a bond sale to raise money for the construction projects. 

The investigative report says Dickinson State’s finance office had a high degree of turnover before Wietstock was hired as vice president in September 2022.

The report said the decision to remove Wietstock “was initially driven by concerns regarding workplace conduct, communication, and professional relationships.” After Wietstock left, “additional concerns regarding DSU’s financial condition, cash position, capital project funding, and financial reporting practices came to light, prompting further review,” the report said.

Molander told the legislative committee that he was not happy with the budgeting process he inherited at DSU when he became president in 2025. 

Wietstock was notified in December 2025 that he would be fired, according to documents obtained by the North Dakota Monitor. The documents regarding Wietstock’s termination and a subsequent appeal were not included in the report. 

Molander cited in a letter to Wietstock “substantive deficits in subject matter area expertise, such as the admitted lack of knowledge on bank reconciliations and errors — either intentional or negligent — in critical procurement areas.” 

Wietstock disputed the firing and the findings of the investigation.

“They seem to continue to imply that I don’t know how to do a bank reconciliation,” Wietstock said in an interview. “I’ve been an accountant for 40 years. I think I know how to do a bank reconciliation.”

Since Wietstock’s departure, Dickinson State has since been using financial office staff at North Dakota State University. 

Sanford said that while there have been arrangements where larger colleges have helped smaller colleges with administrative tasks, the system office has not always been looped in on communication as those arrangements evolve. 

The report recommended formal service agreements and periodic performance reviews to promote accountability.

Sanford told the committee that while the University of North Dakota and NDSU are large enough to adequately staff key financial expertise positions, the problems at Dickinson State could have happened at any of the nine smaller colleges in the system. 

He said the State Board of Higher Education will evaluate whether shared services positions to help the smaller colleges should be part of the University System office or with UND or NDSU. 

Sanford said the University System doesn’t plan to ask the Legislature to fund new positions, though some positions could shift from campuses to the system office.

The report also highlighted the need for better performance monitoring for key financial leadership positions and fraud and ethics training for leadership and the state board. 

Larson stated the University System is working to become more collaborative among the 11 campuses with a plan called “One NDUS.”

“Within that plan, we will engage in more centralized oversight and accountability for back-of-house services,” Larson said. 

The University System said that through September, it has paid CliftonLarsonAllen more than $80,000 for the investigation.

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Legislators had different responses to the report. 

Rep. Jamie Selzler, D-Fargo, thanked Molander and Sanford for addressing problems that existed before entering their current roles. But said he had concerns about the system’s responsiveness under previous leadership and wants to ensure that doesn’t happen again. 

“I’m very concerned about performance management going forward,” Selzler said. 

Rep. Steve Swiontek, R-Fargo, said his reading of the report indicated that Molander did not react quickly or aggressively enough after seeing red flags about DSU’s finances. 

Larson agreed that action should have been taken more quickly. 

“We are impressing upon the leaders of our institutions that we must act sooner, and we are going to put in place more consistent oversight,” Larson said. 

The report says that in hindsight, Molander “stated that he wished he had ‘pushed harder’ and more thoroughly evaluated Mr. Wietstock’s financial capabilities earlier in his tenure.”

After being informed in December by Molander that the termination would stand, Wietstock sent a letter in January to the University System office appealing the decision, arguing that the reasons provided by Molander were “inaccurate, undefined, and in some cases untrue.” 

In his appeal letter to Sanford, Wietstock said he felt targeted by co-workers and Molander for ongoing staffing and administrative problems at the college. 

He also said there were no training or procedure manuals to show how to find information he needed in the NDUS PeopleSoft Finance System. 

The report shows that as early as 2023, Wietstock, in an email to University System office finance personnel, said he found the Dickinson State system overly convoluted.

Wietstock was interviewed by CliftonLarsonAllen, but he said most of the accounting firm’s questions were about the bank reconciliation process and not other issues identified in his termination. 

By the time of his firing, Wietstock said DSU had hired a controller and he felt the finance team had been making “significant progress.”  

Wietstock was informed by Sanford on Oct. 6, after the report was finalized, that his appeal for being terminated was denied. 

Wietstock, who now lives in Fargo, said he doesn’t plan to challenge the termination in court.

Reach North Dakota Monitor deputy editor Jeff Beach at [email protected]