University of Utah : S.J. Quinney College of Law

Virginia Beane

Accountant

Virginia Beane provides oversight of all financial operations for the College of Law and Law Library.  That’s a very basic description of a complex job.  Put another way, she elaborates, “I try to make everyone else’s job easier while keeping us compliant.”  But even that is only a thumbnail description of her duties, which include budgeting, planning     faculty payroll, chartfield oversight and general problem solving.  My mother, grandmother, grandfather and mother-in-law were all accountants. My parents and grandparents ran their own business as I was growing up.  Accounting is the family business and I just learned and grew into it organically.”

A 15-year U of U employee, Beane has been at the Quinney College for 11 years.  She began at the library, where her duties as accountant included paying for acquisitions related materials, deposits, reporting, budgeting and a fair amount of committee work. For several years she helped manage the copy center at the Library, but as public use declined, the copy center did as well. She moved into her current position on July 1, 2007. She explains that her favorite thing about working at the Quinney College is the people, job and the accessible campus location.

A Utah native, Beane graduated from East High School and attended the U of U. Her diverse hobbies include art, baking, cross-country skiing, hiking, camping, and home improvement.  She also is a voracious reader, and cites “anything by C.S. Lewis” as a favorite. Beane and her husband, Chris, are the parents of a son, Jacob, who is seven. They also have three additional children, all of whom are furry and walk on fours legs -- Kaydee, a Labrador Retriever-Chow mix, age 11; Rouxfus, a German Sheppard, age 10; and Sephira, a Red Heeler, age 8 months.   

When she’s not engaged in one of her many pastimes, Beane is likely to be found exploring the otherworldly scenery of central Utah’s San Rafael Swell.  In fact, she describes herself as “just another desert rat at heart.”  “My grandmother grew up in Moab, my grandfather is from Delta and we spent a lot of time in the desert when I was young. I’ve kept my love of the red rock and wide open space, although Moab’s become a little urban for my vacationing taste. To my joy, Jacob loves playing in the red dirt, too.”  

In retrospect, she believes moving to the Quinney College from the law library was a timely, but challenging, transition.  “The needs of library accounting have changed with increased patron use of the Internet and because of my experience there, the timing of this transition provided an opportunity to consolidate College-wide financial management while still recognizing the unique needs of the Library,”  she explains. 

And the transition was made easier by her colleagues’ experience. “Having John Piele and Shanon Lake in place has allowed me to focus on larger projects for the college, like making structural changes that take full functional advantage of the University’s Peoplesoft financials, rethinking and implementing internal procedures to create a more proactive and user-friendly system, instituting proper internal controls in light of these changes and just getting people access to the resources they need to effectively get their jobs done. It’s a unique opportunity as an accountant to be given such a mandate and the resources to implement it and I enjoy the process and the team with whom I work.”

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