Audit of Louisiana Citizens Says Lack of Board Oversight Hurt Company

The latest look at Louisiana’s state-backed insurance company says lack of board oversight caused a number of problems that hurt the company’s ability to reliably start, authorize, record, process or report transactions.

Chief executive officer John Wortman says new management at Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has set up a number of procedures to prevent such problems.

The accounting firm LaPorte, Sehrt, Romig and Hand audited 2006 records for the insurer of last resort. Its findings underscore problems found by the state Legislative Auditor’s office.

Among other things, it says it could not find any evidence that the board authorized four contracts signed by the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana – the group hired to administer Citizens’ operations.

Information from: The Advocate, http://www.2theadvocate.com