Shreveport’s LSU Confronts Major Financial Audit Issues Amid Repeated Shortcomings

Shreveport’s LSU Faces Financial Audit Challenges

Shreveport, Louisiana – It has come to light that Louisiana State University at Shreveport (LSU Shreveport) is facing some serious financial issues following an audit conducted by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office. This audit, which examined financial statements from July 1, 2022, to June 30, highlighted three significant shortcomings that the university needs to address immediately.

Repeated Bank Reconciliation Woes

First up on the auditing report is ineffective bank reconciliations. This isn’t just a new issue; it’s a repeat finding! Auditors discovered that LSU Shreveport hasn’t been able to resolve the ineffective bank reconciliation issues that were previously identified. This time, they spotted an alarming unexplained net difference of $167,800 between the accounting systems’ cash balance and the actual bank balance.

What’s causing all this chaos? Auditors pointed to a large number of unresolved reconciling items, some dating all the way back to January 2022! Imagine that! There’s a massive $1.8 million in recorded transactions that seem to be missing from the bank statement, and another $1.7 million in deposits that just didn’t make it to the accounting records. Among these, an eyebrow-raising amount of $69,292 in deposits from Pilots Pointe Apartments from July 2020 to June 2021 are still unaccounted for!

Management has said they believe most of these transactions would cancel each other out, but they lack the paperwork to sort it all out. Sounds like they have some homework to do!

Payroll Record Mess

The second major issue in the audit was noncompliance with timekeeping records. This means that a number of unclassified employees didn’t file their time and attendance records the way they’re supposed to according to Louisiana law. Out of nearly 5,000 payroll records checked, a whopping 8% – that’s 381 records – were not certified within the required 30 days! Can you imagine the confusion?

On average, the delays in certification took around 64 days, with some records lagging anywhere between 31 to an astounding 424 days. That’s a giant time hole that needs filling!

Athletics Department in Hot Water

theft within the athletics department. Auditors reported two separate thefts that could total around $8,850. The first incident happened last October when $850 went missing from an unsecured desk drawer. After an investigation, they didn’t find any leads or implement safeguards to prevent future occurrences. Yikes!

The second theft was discovered when a resigning employee informed management that cash was missing from the safe. After digging deeper, it was found that roughly $8,000 in cash from various sporting events had vanished during a period when many games took place, with no deposits made from November to April. Talk about a red flag for the department!

While LSU Shreveport’s management is acknowledging these problems, it’s clear that the university has some work ahead of them. The continuation of past mistakes and the emergence of new financial hurdles indicate there’s a pressing need for change.

With the recent findings, will LSU Shreveport take swift action to clear up these messes? The community will certainly be watching closely!