FAMU task force: Finances fixed

The task force formed last year in response to lawmakers' concerns over financial mismanagement at FAMU has ended its work -- concluding in a report to the governor, Senate president and House speaker that Florida's only public historically black institution has taken steps to deal with most of the problems identified in past state audits.

“President Ammons and his administration have been persistent and aggressive in putting corrective measures in place," said task force chair Lynn Pappas, a member of the Board of Governors. “FAMU has laid the foundation to restore financial operational integrity and public trust.”

The FAMU Task Force’s final report will be released next week. The group got $1-million in state money for its work, but finished on time and under budget. So the remaining $250,000 goes back to the state.

The FAMU Task Force found that through 72 corrective actions put in place by FAMU, the university had satisfactorily addressed 92 percent of the findings noted by the task force earlier. The task force also found that Florida A&M had processes in place to address the remaining 8 percent of the findings.

The FAMU Task Force issued these recommendations:

The FAMU Board of Trustees to receive quarterly reports from the university’s Division of Audit and Compliance on FAMU’s progress in unresolved areas.

The FAMU Board of Trustees to require, in fiscal year 2009, formal audits of the university’s PeopleSoft upgrade and of the status of contracts and grants accounting and compliance.

The Board of Governors to establish formal procedures to monitor the audit plans, risk assessments and audit reports of all 11 state institutions.