What The Legislative Auditor Can Do And Cannot Do

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) office has broad authority under the audit law to audit the records of state agencies, and local government agencies and quasi-public organization (local auditees); and to regulate the audits and other engagements of agencies that report to LLA that are performed by private CPA firms.

LLA maintains an audit report library, accessible by the public, of the most recent annual financial statements of state and local auditees on its website (www.lla.la.gov).

LLA provides assistance and guidance regarding accounting, legal and other matters to local auditees and the CPAs that perform their audits.

LLA takes allegations and complaints through the Legislative Auditor Fraud Hotline pertaining to the agencies that report to LLA. If the allegation is related to the expenditure of public funds the agency receives, LLA either follows up on the allegation in-house, or sends it to the CPA firm performing the agency’s audit for follow up.

Between its staff and website, LLA houses a wealth of useful information. Because of this, many people believe that LLA should be able to answer any question about any financial matter.

However, LLA is, at its foundation, a reporting agency. LLA does not make payments to agencies or individuals. LLA cannot answer questions about the status of personal tax returns and other personal financial matters, or answer questions on behalf of other state or local government agencies.

Although LLA has the power to issue reports that disclose fraud and misappropriations, it cannot arrest or bring charges against the persons who commit these acts.

The following questions and problems should be referred to the indicated agency:

Question or problem	Contact
Complaint about a CPA, not related to a report issued by LLA	State Board of CPAs of Louisiana
Complaint about a local government or public official, not related to the public funds the agency receives	District Attorney, State Attorney General
Complaint about a nonprofit agency that does not receive public funds	Secretary of State, District Attorney, State Attorney General
Complaint about water quality	State Department of Environmental Quality
Ethics complaint	State Ethics Board
Local government agency denies access to public records	District Attorney
Personal lawsuit against a state or local government agency	Personal legal counsel
Question about an individual’s pension payments	Pension system
Question about personal or business property tax assessment	Parish assessor
State or federal tax question	Louisiana Department of Revenue, IRS, or personal CPA
Status of state tax refund	Louisiana Department of Revenue
Status of payments from other state agencies	State agency responsible for the payment
Utilities cut off for nonpayment	Utility company