External auditors give Madison City Schools "clean" opinion, no federal compliance findings

Auditors told the Madison City Board of Education the district received an unmodified (clean) opinion on its financial statements for the fiscal year ending September 2024 and that the audit identified no material weaknesses in internal control or federal-program compliance.

A representative of the audit team, identified in the meeting as Mr. Smiley, and audit staff Erica Gough (director of assurance) and Taylor Wood (audit manager) presented the report. The auditors said management's discussion and analysis, prepared by the finance department, gives narrative context to the statements and that there were no audit adjustments and no disagreements with management.

The audit letter on federal programs (required because the district receives federal funds) found the district complied, in all material respects, with the types of compliance requirements that have a direct and material effect on its major federal programs. The auditors explicitly reported "no instances of noncompliance" for matters required to be reported under U.S. government audit standards and said they identified "no deficiencies in internal control considered to be material weaknesses."

Board members and the superintendent praised the finance staff's cooperation with the audit team and noted the audit team's findings as a positive reflection of district processes.

Quotes in context: "In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly...the Madison City Board of Education as of your fiscal year end September 2024," the auditor said. "Because this district receives federal government money, there is additional work...we did not identify any deficiencies in internal control that would be considered to be material weaknesses," the audit team reported.