The head of Arkansas' Veterans Affairs Department retired suddenly Monday, four days after state auditors questioned whether his agency suffered from lax oversight of its finances.

Legislative auditors found that a state credit card was used at liquor stores, beauty salons and pet shops and that nearly $200,000 in inventory was either lost or insufficiently documented. Agency Director Dave Fletcher met with Gov. Mike Beebe on Monday and tendered his resignation afterward.

"It became pretty clear that change was going to be needed at some point," Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.