University addresses annual audit findings, highlights progress

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor is expected to release its fiscal year 2025 audit report for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Monday. 

The report includes three findings. Two involve federal research compliance processes that have been reported for the past four years and are related to federal grant administration. The third finding involves purchasing card expenses and reporting procedures.

“This audit reflects both the work that remains and the progress that has already been made,” said Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, University president, in a message to the campus community. “Accountability requires that we acknowledge problems, address them directly and make improvements where needed. That is exactly what we are doing.”

Kolluru said the University expects the two research-related findings will be resolved by the next audit cycle. 

“The two research-related findings are not new. They involve federal grant administration and have been the focus of significant corrective work over the past 13 months,” Kolluru said. “We recognized that these findings would likely remain open during this audit cycle because the solutions required substantial changes to processes, organizational structure and oversight systems that could not be fully implemented before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, 2025. Over the past year, we have continued implementing those changes and strengthening the way research administration is managed. We expect these findings to be resolved in the next audit cycle because of those efforts.”

The third finding involved purchasing card expenses and reporting procedures. According to the report, the issues were identified through University monitoring processes and reviewed through established internal procedures. The University has already implemented additional safeguards related to expense review, employee training and reporting procedures and will continue strengthening accountability measures, Kolluru said. 

The report also noted progress in areas previously identified for improvement. Two prior research compliance findings have been resolved and are no longer cited.