MANCHESTER - Southern New Hampshire University said Wednesday that it is conducting an internal investigation into financial mismanagement on the part of a university budget manager.

In a statement released by spokesman Gregg Mazzola, the university said it contacted the New Hampshire Attorney General on June 12, once an independent auditor gathered preliminary information about the matter.

“We immediately contacted our auditors, forensic auditors, to really look at this and see if it was more substantial,” university President Paul LeBlanc said Wednesday night. “There appears to be a number of items flagged and it appears to be substantial.”

A search on the university's website and in the university's 2012-13 graduate catalog finds just one person listed as a budget manager, Raymond Prouty, a 1977 graduate of SNHU and a former assistant athletics director who in the last few years assumed the duties of budget manager.

Prouty, who according to the school was inducted into the university's athletics hall of fame in 2010, refused to speak to a reporter at his home in Hooksett on Wednesday night.

Mazzola confirmed Wednesday night that Prouty is no longer employed at the school and that, at some point, Prouty was placed on an administrative leave. He would not confirm or deny that Prouty is the same budget manager under investigation.

Prouty's wife, Terry, who is the women's soccer coach at the university, answered the door at their home Wednesday night and said the family would not speak. She was not told why a reporter wanted to speak to Raymond Prouty before answering that they had no comment.

She was then asked if Raymond Prouty had been suspended by the university and said: “We have no comment. Thank you very much,” then closed the door.

The auditor's full report is expected sometime this month, and the university is working with the Attorney General's Office, the statement reads. Once the university receives the auditor's report, it may issue more information, subject to guidance from state officials, the university said.

A report on WMUR-TV quoted “sources” as saying the amount is as much as a half-million dollars, but LeBlanc said initial audits have yet to reveal that much in suspicious transactions.

“There's no confirmed amount of that scale,” he said, “though there is still work to be done.”

A May 29 budget review flagged the suspicious transaction, and the university immediately placed the employee in question on leave.

“That individual is no longer employed by the university,” the statement reads.

A short biography in his hall of fame inclusion said Prouty, who played baseball and soccer, was the school's athlete of the year in his sophomore year. After graduation, he accepted a position as the school's athletic business manager and, from 1981 to 1986, coached the women's softball team.

The university is searching for a new budget manager. The open position was posted June 24, according to the school's website.