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External auditors give Savannah‑Chatham—s financial statements a clean opinion; report highlights reserves and federal spending
Summary
External auditors from Mauldin & Jenkins reported an unmodified opinion on the district—s annual comprehensive financial report, noted strong cash reserves, and reported no findings in examined federal programs.
Hope Pendergrass of Mauldin & Jenkins presented the external audit results and the annual comprehensive financial report (ACFR) to the Savannah‑Chatham County Board of Public Education and told the board the audit produced a clean, unmodified opinion.
"We conducted our audit and determined that your financial statements as presented are materially correct, and so that's called a clean or an unmodified opinion," Pendergrass said. She congratulated management and the board for producing the ACFR and noted the district submits the report for national awards.
Pendergrass summarized financial highlights in the ACFR: the district expended about $522,600,000 from the general fund during the year and held a general fund cash balance of roughly $213,000,000; those reserves equated to about 23 weeks of operating reserves based on the year—s spending, the auditor said. Pendergrass said the ACFR also includes 10 years of statistical and demographic information.
On federal programs, the auditor said the district expended about $102,000,000 in federal funds last year (including Title I, special education, school nutrition and ESSER) and that the single‑audit testing for school nutrition and special education produced no compliance findings. "We had no findings to report in regard to those compliance, testing that we did in regard to your federal programs," Pendergrass said.
The auditor—s management letter included a recommendation to improve organization and year‑end closing schedules; Pendergrass said the comment reflected opportunities to make the financial close process smoother (including turnover in staffing) but did not affect the audit opinion.
Pendergrass said the ACFR and single audit provide management and the board with information on trends such as rising employer contributions to the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) and other costs the district must consider when budgeting.
The presentation was informational; board members thanked the auditor for the report and no formal board action was requested at the meeting.
