External auditors give Newburgh district a clean opinion but record $54.6 million in adjustments

The Newburgh City School District received an unmodified (clean) audit opinion for the year ended June 30, 2024, but external auditors reported 28 adjusting journal entries totaling about $54,551,000 and several control findings at the Board of Education meeting on March 11.

Doug Zonen, partner with the EFPR group, and Dave Gable, the firm’s director, presented the findings. “The total of the 28 adjustments was $54,551,000,” Zonen said during the presentation. The auditors said they would issue five separate reports connected to the audit, including a basic financial‑statement opinion, a single audit under federal uniform guidance and a management letter.

The nut of the audit: after the adjustments the auditors concluded the district’s financial statements conform to generally accepted accounting principles for governmental entities and issued an unmodified opinion dated Dec. 20, 2024. But the auditors identified a material weakness in internal control related to accounting records and significant audit…