Correction appended: An earlier version of this article stated that a management advisory memorandum is an audit.

Editor's Note: This article is the first in a series of reports published by the Daily based on management advisory memorandums obtained from the University through the Freedom of Information Act. A management advisory memorandum is a document from the Office of University Audits that is not made immediately public — unlike audits the office performs. The Daily's request, filed last fall, yielded 119 management advisory memorandums written from 2006 to 2009.

A former University policy for granting complimentary football and basketball tickets to Athletic Department employees included multiple errors, according to an internal University memorandum acquired by The Michigan Daily through the Freedom of Information Act.

A management advisory memo from the Office of University Audits, dated July 24, 2009, informed then-Athletic Director Bill Martin that complimentary season tickets and individual game tickets given to Athletic Department employees should be counted as part of the employee’s taxable income. At the time, the Athletic Department was counting complimentary season ticket packages as part of an employee’s taxable income, but individual game tickets were excluded. The memo also informed Martin of errors on a form that employees were required to fill out to get the tickets.

The memo was sent to Martin as a precautionary measure after an annual audit of the Athletic Department. It was not sent as a response to any National Collegiate Athletic Association violations, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in a recent interview.

“There were no violations,” Fitzgerald said. “(The memo) was in response to what is a routine annual audit that the University Audits does in Athletics. It was a follow up to that routine audit.”

The memo — written by Carol Senneff, executive director of University Audits, Senior Audit Manager Jennifer Vitale and Senior Auditors Lisa Beymer and Megan Mackson — states that tickets for individual games were erroneously excluded from employees’ taxable income.

“Presently, the value of season tickets provided to staff members is included in an employee’s taxable earnings,” the memo stated. “Tickets for individual games, however, are not included. University Audits and the Tax Director have determined that the value of these tickets should be included with an employee’s taxable earnings.”

In an e-mail to the Daily, Fitzgerald clarified the policy by writing that all complimentary individual tickets to sold out games are considered taxable earnings.

“When something is being given away, it intrinsically does not hold the same value as something for which there are limited quantities in high demand,” he wrote. “Since the value of each is significantly different, the tax liability is as well. So, when there are a number of tickets, there is no value. But when a game is sold out, the … market value is different.”

For over 40 years, all Athletic Department employees have had the option of receiving complimentary Michigan football or basketball tickets. Approximately 275 employees elected to receive complimentary season football tickets, while about 90 employees received complimentary season basketball tickets, Fitzgerald reported.

Athletic Department staff members who don’t want to get full-season basketball tickets can choose to take part in an individual game ticket pool, Fitzgerald wrote in the e-mail.