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Audit for fiscal 2023 delayed; auditors report substantial progress and no evidence of misconduct
Summary
The district's fiscal year 2023 audit remained incomplete on July 22. The external auditor told staff work was substantially complete but some open items — including review of prior-year records — were adding time; district staff said they did not expect adverse audit adjustments or evidence of impropriety.
District finance staff provided an update July 22 on the delayed fiscal year 2023 audit. The external audit team from RSM told the district it had completed initial audit testing and draft financial statements but remained reconciling open items created by full-review comments and follow-up questions.
Adam read a statement from the RSM audit team saying audit work was substantially progressed: "The audit team has finished first reviews of the draft financial report, prepared draft communications summarizing the result of our audit, and it's completed all initial audit testing and reviews of that work. The remaining open items consist of addressing questions and comments that have arisen as a result of full reviews over the audit work performed. This is a normal part of the audit process."
District staff said the audit cycle has been more complex than in prior years because of staffing changes and because some questions required tracing items back to 2019 financial records. Staff emphasized that, based on audit work to date, neither the district nor the auditors had identified evidence of misconduct and they did not anticipate negative adjustments to FY23 financials. The district credited its controller and director of financial reporting for work to improve reconciliation and booking processes.
Administrators said they have been preparing for the FY24 audit work even while FY23 remains open and that they hope FY24 will begin in the fall once FY23 is closed. Staff said they might request a short extension from the state for future audit deadlines if necessary; they also noted that many Iowa districts face similar audit timing challenges.
Board members asked when the district would be back on a normal audit schedule; administrators said they could not give a firm completion date but expected to begin FY24 work promptly after the FY23 audit concludes. Board members requested that RSM present the final audit results in person when the report is ready.
Ending: District staff said they will continue to work with RSM to close open items, will provide progress updates to the board, and plan to start subsequent audits as soon as FY23 is finalized.
