Independent auditors give Harris County School District clean FY24 opinion and no federal findings

The audit firm Robinson & Grimes presented the district’s FY24 audited financial statements and related compliance reports and issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the financial statements.

Jenna Kaye, representing Robinson & Grimes, told the board the audit opinion states the district’s financial statements “present fairly in all material respects,” and the single-audit work on major federal programs — specifically school nutrition and special education — identified no material noncompliance in the auditor’s samples. The auditor also reported no material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting or internal control over compliance for the programs tested.

Kaye noted that government-wide reporting shows a decline in net position of roughly $4 million compared with the prior year, driven primarily by pension and OPEB measurement changes required under accounting standards; she emphasized that those measurement changes are noncash reporting effects that the district cannot control. At the fund level, cash balances were lower than the prior year largely because previously budgeted capital projects were completed in FY23 while federal CARES/ESSER funds drew down.

Kaye praised district staff for filing the required federal data-collection form on time for this audit cycle; timely filing (two years in a row) is one requirement to be designated a “low-risk auditee,” which affects future testing thresholds. The firm’s letter noted the district did not yet qualify as a low-risk auditee because it has not filed timely for two consecutive years, but the auditor said timely filing this year was a positive step.

Ending: The board accepted the presentation. Auditor recommended continued attention to federal program testing and school-activity reconciliations, which staff said will be addressed during summer internal-audit work.