BATON ROUGE — In an audit report released on Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, advisors discovered concerns raised by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services regarding Chez Hope, which provides services to domestic violence survivors.

The analysis addressed several concerns raised by the Department of Children and Family Services, including staffing levels, organization, compensation, rent paid for facilities, purchase and operation of service vehicles, coordination of food assistance including SNAP application support and other federal funds, lack of control over purchases from vendors, accuracy of performance data related to services provided and requests for increased funding and the relationship between funding levels.

The report found significant deficiencies in the internal control and compliance material to the financial statements. According to the report, Chez Hope lacks adequate staff and expertise to properly prepare financial statements in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

The audit showed that GAAP-based financial statements were not prepared by the company due to the small size of the staff and the increased costs of hiring personnel to prepare the statements. 

It was recommended that management evaluate the additional costs required to determine if it's economically feasible to hire additional staff to properly prepare the financial statements.