Florida A&M University will face the Florida Board of Governors in a public meeting to outline the steps being taken to resolve its financial troubles.
On Sept. 11, FAMU Vice President for Audit Credentials Joseph Maleszewski will deliver
a presentation during the board’s 8:15 a.m. audit and compliance committee meeting, which is open to the public, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. The briefing comes in response to recent audit findings and will precede a full board meeting later that afternoon at 3 p.m.FAMU’s financial practices came under scrutiny during a June 18 meeting, which confirmed Marva Johnson as the school’s new president. It followed a March 2025 audit that flagged delayed bank reconciliations, late vendor payments, weak internal controls, and limited staff oversight. In addition to the audit issues, critics said Rebecca Brown, FAMU’s CFO and Senior VP of Finance for over two years, had “failed pretty miserably” in overseeing the school’s finances.
“This is serious. It’s systemic, and that’s a
word I don’t think they were tossing around lightly. This time around, it’s pretty systemic in the accounting side,” Audit and Compliance Committee Chair Aubrey Edge said during the June meeting.As a result, Brown was placed on leave in July, and Chief Budget Officer Nichole Murray was named senior vice president of Finance and Administration and CFO by former interim President Timothy Beard. The audit issues followed the school’s decision to terminate a planned audit of its athletics department in September 2024, after failing to provide the required documentation.
The program’s last completed audit covered the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, although NCAA rules require financial reporting to be done annually. All the while, FAMU’s Athletics Director Angela Suggs remains on paid administrative leave following charges of grand theft and fraudulent travel claims tied to her former role as CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation.
FAMU’s plan to address its financial challenges includes expanding the Athletics Business Office to handle audit
issues, hiring and training additional staff for bank reconciliations, and partnering with the national accounting firm Cherry Bekaert for support. Steps already underway include correcting investment accounting and recording errors identified in FAMU’s operational audit, settling overdue invoices, and utilizing third-party onsite support to address staffing gaps.RELATED CONTENT: From Slavery To Liberation: The Diasporic Legacy Of Black Breastfeeding