Dive Brief:

• The Iowa Board of Regents pledged on Tuesday to closely monitor future spending by the Deloitte Consulting, which it hired to provide cost-cutting advice for the state’s public universities.
• Deloitte has been reimbursed so far for $366,000 in expenses without submitted receipts, the Associated Press reported.
• Last week, Deloitte agreed to submit receipts after Aug. 11 for expenses of $25 or more for airfare, lodging, rental cars, and other expenses.

Dive Insight:

The expenses are fairly trivial compared to the professional fees charged so far — more than $2.9 million for the work of two dozen consultants that charge $195 to $450 per hour. The regents will pay Deloitte up to $3.3 million, plus expenses, and may hire the firm to help implement cost-cutting measures that they expect will save tens of millions of dollars. Those recommendations including cutting as many as 250 jobs and restructuring human resources, information technology, and finance operations, the AP reported.