A former treasurer of Ohio State University inflated the size of the institution’s endowment in his reports, but an independent audit by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services has found no evidence of fraud or misappropriation of the money, The Columbus Dispatch reported today.

The former official, James Nichols, retired on December 31. According to the audit, he misled donors and trustees, reporting to them that the endowment was about $500-million larger in 2005 than it really was. He included operating-fund investments and donated money in that figure, amounts that should have been accounted for separately.

Mr. Nichols also failed to follow university policy when he did not sell $30-million worth of donated stock in Cardinal Health Inc. as quickly as he should have. By the time it was sold, in 2006, it had lost $3.8-million in value, according to the Dispatch, which obtained the Deloitte audit through a public-records request. —Erin Strout