Audit Of Two State Colleges Says $1.6 million In Items Missing
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- Nearly $1.6 million in property, mostly computer gear, is missing from the campuses of the University of New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, according to a December audit of the two state colleges.

Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot, whose office conducted the reviews, said Monday that missing items are common in audits of colleges and hospitals. "But they have to keep track of these things," Theriot said. "The common things are laptop computers just walking away.

"They cannot account for a lot of stuff that walked away."

In a Dec. 19 management letter to UNO officials, auditors said 421 items worth $987,155, could not be located as of June 30. Theriot said it is the second consecutive year the New Orleans campus has been cited for having "significant amounts" of moveable property that could not be located.

The three-year total for missing property at UNO is $2.26 million, the audit said.

Most of the $987,000 in property reported missing in the most recent audit was computer equipment. The audit said 130 desktop computers, 156 laptop and notebook computers, 36 multimedia projectors, six monitors, six digital cameras and camcorders and "various other computer-related property items," worth $726,394, could not be accounted for.