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A project manager defrauded the country's largest university of more than $600,000 by getting money from fake invoices paid into her and a friend's bank accounts.
Katherine Ann Henry, 37, yesterday pleaded guilty at Auckland District Court to three charges of obtaining by deception.
She is due to be sentenced in October.
Court documents showed Henry was working at the University of Auckland's Mira Szaszy Research Centre - part of its business school and the first dedicated Maori and Pacific research facility in business and economics in New Zealand - from 2003 until last year.
They said Henry made fake invoices in the name of a genuine company that had previously sold two pieces of art to the university.
The deception - in which $609,502.92 was obtained from the university - was uncovered after concerns were raised in 2006 about the research centre's financial performance.
"Costs of the centre had exceeded the budget," the statement of facts read.
"A review of the ledger revealed that many transactions were being expensed into the same account."
Under the business school's system, department managers were authorised to approve invoices up to $5000 and all other invoices had to be approved by the school's finance manager.
Meanwhile, approval of project payments up to $5000 at the centre needed the authorisation of the centre director.
Once that authorisation was obtained, invoices were entered on to the computer system by an employee and then "approved" by another employee.
Henry got permission to "approve" payments up to $5000 in April 2004.
But court papers show that between June 2004 and October 2006 Henry completed both the data entry and approval steps of the process herself - in breach of university policy - having obtained a colleague's password.
A University of Auckland spokesman said last night that the offences were discovered during a budget review process.
"Stringent new controls were then introduced to prevent any possibility of a repetition."
The Serious Fraud Office took the case to court. Director Grant Liddell said it illustrated the importance of organisations having robust systems for controlling spending.
Henry could not be reached for comment last night.
