BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) -- The University of Louisiana-Lafayette has longstanding issues with complying with accounting procedures, according to the annual audit released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office.

For the third consecutive year, auditors found the university did not bill for federal, state, local, and non-governmental grants and contracts revenue in a timely manner.

"Failure to bill timely causes noncompliance with the contract, agreement, and/or
internal policy," the audit read. "Additionally, untimely billing increases the risk that receivable
accounts could become uncollectable."

In its response letter, signed by University President E. Joseph Savoie, Vice President Jerry LeBlanc and Judith Maina, director of school's Office of Sponsored Programs Finance Administration and Compliance, the university said the delays in billing were primarily due to staff shortages and high employee turnover over the last couple of years.

"(S)ignificant progress has been made in reducing delays and improving processes despite ongoing challenges such as high turnover and staffing shortages within the Office of Sponsored Programs Finance Administration and Compliance," the letter said.

For the fourth consecutive year, auditors said the university did not have adequate controls in place to ensure personnel expenses charged to federal Research and Development awards accurately reflected work performed.

"Inadequate controls related to federal documentation standards for personnel expenses could result in noncompliance with federal allowable costs and cost principles, as well as noncompliance with special tests and provisions related to key personnel effort," the audit read.

The university said the omissions were not intentional, and was the result of a changeover in accounting systems.

"(T)he University has been transitioning from a manual to an electronic effort certification system," the response letter read. "In the transition, we had opted shifting from a fiscal-year-based reporting framework to a calendar-year-based framework. The effort certifications for the period in question are scheduled for completion by April 15, 2025, at which point they will fully support that salaries and wages charged to federal awards are based on records accurately reflecting work performed."

Also for the fourth consecutive year, the university did not adequately monitor subrecipients of the R&D Cluster programs. In addition, auditors found the university did not ensure that all expenses charged to federal R&D awards complied with period of performance requirements.

"Failure to properly monitor subrecipients results in noncompliance with federal regulations and increases the likelihood of improper payments which may have to be returned to the federal awarding agency," auditors said.

The university admitted the noncompliance and again cited staff turnover and attrition for the shortcomings in its response letter.

"The University remains committed to making continuous improvements and appreciates (auditors') understanding and support as we address these challenges," the letter read.

Read the audit in its entirety here:

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