LOUISIANA STATE LEGISLATIVE AUDIT INDICATES NEARLY $1MILLION IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED EQUIPMENT MISSING FROM UNIVERSITY UL Equipment Audit A state legislative audit indicates nearly $1 million in equipment has vanished from UL over the past four years. The information is part of an audit conducted by the university.

A report released on December 28th highlights the missing property. According to UL's own records within the report, more than $941,000 in movable property is unaccounted for over the last four years. Of that equipment, roughly $700,000 is in computers or computer-related items. That's about 2% of the university's entire inventory.

The missing or stolen property is not the only concern. Within the report, legislative auditor Steve Theriot says another concern is the fact that sensitive information could be retrieved from the missing computers or related equipment.

In a response from the university, UL president Ray Authement says a new policy was sent to deans, directors and department heads concerning portable equipment, mainly laptop computers. The policy states an employee who loses a piece of equipment through negligence must reimburse the university up to $1,000.

Dr. Authement is also taking action to protect information on computers. He is directing faculty and staff to maintain only minimum sensitive data on computers to perform their duties and responsibilities. Authement goes on to say a full analysis of the property inventory is scheduled to be complete in February. UL officials say so far, $15,000 in equipment has been located during that process.

Officials within the state auditor's office say historically, UL has very few findings and they are usually quick to respond to the issues.


The same type of legislative audit was performed for other Louisiana schools.Southeastern Louisiana University is missing over $550,000 worth of inventory. Over $200,000 from the overall total is unlocated computer-related equipment.LSU at Shreveport can't account for well over $350,000 worth of its inventory. According to the legislative audit, items totaling nearly $60,000 has been missing for three consecutive years. A large portion of the overall total stems from missing computer and lab equipment.

Audit on Inventory

Southeastern Louisiana University

Total missing: $574,023
$84,711 missing 3 years
$263,735 computer-related equipment

LSU at Shreveport

Total missing: $369,499
$58,200 missing 3 years
$152,417 computer-related equipment
$204,857 lab/audio-visual equipment