Larry Williard

Officials from the Examiners of Public Accounts are also on the campus of Bishop State, preparing a special report on the school, according to Larry Williard, director of audits for the department.

Williard said he did not yet know when the special report would be completed, but said officials would carefully examine the activities of school employees.

Six people are charged with stealing more than $75,000 in financial aid money from Bishop State.
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Williard said examiners would try to include an investigation of the school bookstore's book buyback program in its special report.If doing so would significantly delay the release of the report, however, Williard said it would be covered in a later report.

"We all felt like it was a violation of the law," said Larry Williard, who oversees audits of two-year colleges for the state Department of Examiners of Public Accounts."I have never interpreted the public works law as painting a classroom."

Public works jobs are more typically associated with major projects, such as roads and construction.The school should have bid the work as a project that exceeded $7,500, the amount triggering bids under state law for maintenance and other jobs, Williard said.

"Internal controls keep honest people honest," Larry Williard told the Exchange Club of Troy recently.
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Williard is the Director of the Education Audit Division with the State of Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts.

The Department of Examiners is not with the State Auditor.Williard noted a couple of the differences.
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When Alabama voters defeated Amendment I, more than half of Williard's staff was lost.

"I'm very proud of the work we do," Williard said."In the Education Division we're responsible for the audits of all four-year colleges, all junior colleges and hospitals."

Williard entertained the Exchange Club with several real-life examples of fraud, theft and abuse of office.While humorous, those examples underscore the need for audits.He also said people who own businesses can learn from other people's mistakes.

"One of the biggest problems in any business is theft from employees," Williard said."If you're operating a business, look for internal controls."

He also noted that internal controls aren't infallible.

"The top person has the right to override controls," he said.

"It's up to them to pass regulations," said Larry Williard, director of the education audit division of the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts.
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Williard also said that many of the alleged transgressions at the two-year colleges were too recent to be reviewed in an auditing schedule that has fallen two years behind.

"I know things in the papers make people ask questions," Williard said.
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Williard said auditors returned to Bishop State following revelations of alleged improprieties.