A data entry error by Alliance Capital Management caused more alarm than necessary in a presentation to the Board of Regents on Thursday.

Alfred Harrison, vice chairman of Alliance, told the regents the University endowment had lost $8.3 million in its Enron stocks, when the actual number was closer to $5.2 million.

Alliance is the firm the University hired to manage approximately 10 percent of its $610 million endowment.

The error was attributed to purchases entered twice by a firm assistant.

“People make mistakes,” said Joseph Rice, vice president of Alliance. “We overstated by a lot how many shares we owned.”

The endowment is invested in a broad range of stocks. The investment returns fund University scholarships, research and academic support programs.

Sheila Warness, director of asset management, said the Enron fiasco – though affecting only a small percentage of the University’s total endowment money – will impact how external auditors conduct future audits of institutions.

Despite the $3.1 million difference in how much the University endowment actually lost in its Enron investments, Rice said he was not happy with how the stocks did as a whole.

“We don’t like to lose any money for our clients,” Rice said. “This is still a meaningful loss.”

– Maggie Hessel-Mial