After nearly a year of an empty office, the Richmond School Board has found an auditor to fill the space. 

Board members announced Friday that Ziauddin Ahmed will serve as the new Director of Internal Audit for Richmond Public Schools. He has a start date of Monday, April 20. 

“Mr. Ahmed brings with him a strong background in assurance, compliance, risk management, and governance, supported by more than 20 years of experience in developing and leading internal audit, advisory and compliance functions for Fortune 100 companies and national nonprofits,” the press release reads. 

Ahmed previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been in senior and executive positions in organizations like the American Red Cross, Cable & Wireless, Science Application International Corporations – SAIC – and Iverness Medical Imaging.

It is unclear how much Ahmed will be making, but in the job description posted for the position, the Board was offering an annual salary of up to $171,192.

The division has been without an auditor since May 2025, when former auditor Douglass Graeff was asked to leave silently. The Richmonder discovered that he was paid $30,790 as part of his separation agreement with the division. 

The reason for Graeff’s leave is unknown, as he told The Richmonder last September that he cannot speak on his departure “based on my agreement with RPS.” Board Chair Shovonda Fernandez (9th District) cited RPS policy, which does not allow officials to comment on personnel matters. 

The lack of an auditor for schools has drawn some criticism. City Councilor Kenya Gibson (3rd District) called for a thorough audit of the division’s budget but without help from the city last August. 

“I know that there has been some discussion about some shared audit services between the schools and the city, and I just wanted to note, I believe that these should be independent bodies,” she said at the time.

In light of the recent concerns regarding the division’s current proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, educators from the union representing many RPS employees – Richmond Education Association – have recently called for an external audit into the division’s funding. Gibson is also seeking budget language requiring the external audit by Oct. 31 this year, citing the fact that RPS has been without an auditor for so long.  

The School Board is now tasked with finding a junior auditor, a position that was previously at risk of being eliminated from the schools’ budget. 

Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org