Harvard does not know where all of its money is.

But that may not be the University's fault, according to the Massachusetts state treasurer's office.

A list released this week by state treasurer Joseph D. Malone '78, and published in many newspapers, names more than one dozen University accounts that have been "abandoned" and are currently being maintained by Malone's office.

That list names two accounts that belong to Harvard University in addition to others from the Business School, the School of Dental Medicine and the Harvard College Library. In all, 10 different Harvard-affiliated organizations with 17 different accounts were named in the list.

While the word "abandonment" may suggest that Harvard has neglected to keep tabs on some of its money, the reality in many cases is just the opposite, according to Joe Mara, director of claims processing and operations in the state treasury's unclaimed property division.

In most cases, the state treasury receives accounts that are abandoned by people who either leave the area or are elderly, Mara says. After a given account has been inactive for three years, that money is turned over to the state. This year, the amount collected by the state treasury in such accounts is $160 million.

But Harvard does not generally lose track of its bank accounts.

Instead, Mara says Harvard's accounts are really money owed to the University by other companies who cannot pay Harvard what they owe it. Companies that owe Harvard money and have turned checks over to the treasurer's office include IBM, AT&T, Sunoco and McGraw Hill.

Mara says the University has been very aggressive in retrieving its money. "We've paid Harvard quite a bit back," he says. "in a lot of cases, Harvard had no idea the money even existed."

Judith B. Warren, director of finance and accounting for Harvard, says the University has made a concerted effort to collect the money it is owed in Massachusetts and elsewhere. She says the manager of accounts payable wrote every state treasurer in the country last year asking them if they had funds due Harvard, and received several positive responses.

Warren says the companies Harvard deals with have, as a rule, acted vard had no idea the money even existed."

Judith B. Warren, director of finance and accounting for Harvard, says the University has made a concerted effort to collect the money it is owed in Massachusetts and elsewhere. She says the manager of accounts payable wrote every state treasurer in the country last year asking them if they had funds due Harvard, and received several positive responses.

Warren says the companies Harvard deals with have, as a rule, acted in good faith in trying to pay the University what it is owed.

"We don't have the sense that things are showing up in this abandoned property list because people are trying to commit fraud in any way," Warren says.

Mara says many companies don't pay this money to Harvard on time because of honest, clerical mistakes. But others, he says, do not make a strong enough effort to inform the University that they have some of Harvard's money. Some companies hand over money to the state while claiming that they cannot locate the University, which has been sitting at the same spot in Cambridge for more than 350 years.

Mara did not name specific companies that have left the University empty-handed, but he noted that insurance companies, in particular, often claim that they are not able to contact other insurance companies in the same city.