According to a recent report by Tarah Jean of the Tallahassee Democrat, the Florida Board of Governors has voiced serious concerns with Florida A&M University’s chief financial officer and the institution’s overall financial operations.
Earlier this year, the Florida Board of Governors conducted an audit of the historically Black university’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 2024. According to the auditors, FAMU has a “significant deficiency” in its financial reporting and “university controls need improvement to ensure the accounting records and annual financial report are accurate.”
Based on their findings, the audit and compliance committee of the Florida Board of Governors raised concerns with the HBCU’s senior vice president of finance and administration and chief financial officer, Rebecca Brown, in a June 18 meeting with FAMU administrators, including interim president Timothy Beard.
“From my perspective, the CFO failed pretty miserably in this job because she’s been there two years and five months, which is long enough to know that you’re not reconciling your statements,” said Audrey Edge, Florida Board of Governors member and chair of the audit and compliance committee.
Brown, who was not present at the recent meeting, was hired in 2023 by former president Larry Robinson. She is the seventh individual to serve as CFO of FAMU since 2018. In addition to significant CFO turnover, the HBCU has several vacant accounting positions in its division of finance and administration.
During the meeting, Florida Board of Governors member Eric Silagy asked Dr. Beard if Brown has received any bonuses or compensation increases since her hiring. However, Dr. Beard did not have that information readily available.
“In the private sector, for a chief financial officer to have this systemic breakdown and this loss of risk controls, they would be shown the door so fast it would make their head spin, they sure wouldn’t be getting an increase in their base salary, and they sure wouldn’t be getting a bonus,” Silagy told Dr. Beard.
Silagy added, “I personally wouldn’t have confidence in the team you have, and I would ask you to really take a hard look at what signals you’re sending to folks internally so that they understand the gravity of what they’re doing or not doing.”
Marva Johnson is slated to take over for Dr. Beard as the official thirteenth president of FAMU on August 1.
