Johnson Block auditor reviews Cedarburg School District's 2023'24 annual audit before board

Brent Nelson of Johnson Block presented the Cedarburg School District's annual audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, and explained the timing and reporting steps auditors follow before filing with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Why it matters: The annual audit is the board's primary external financial review; findings and fund balances inform multi-year budgeting and capital planning decisions.

Nelson said auditors review the July 1'June 30 fiscal-year books and prepare a final report that the district must submit to the Department of Public Instruction; he noted the final audit filing is due Dec. 15 to DPI. Nelson said the audit team performs comparative testing against the district's certified numbers and highlighted that the general fund showed year-over-year changes when comparing June 30, 2024 to June 30, 2023.

In his summary commentary the auditor noted that the district's general-fund reserve was roughly in the range of about 25% of annual general-fund expenditures (commenting on reserve levels and comparative ratios) and that local property taxes remain the single largest revenue source, cited at roughly 49% of all revenues in the audit summary. Nelson also referenced a state-level issue that affected reporting in the year under audit (an item he described as a state issue of about $382,000,000 in context of reporting timelines).

Board members and staff discussed timing of audit presentation and how the audit is reviewed annually by the personnel and finance committee or by the full board. District staff and the auditor agreed to continue presenting the audit around January each year and to provide committee-level review prior to final filing.

The auditor and staff invited board questions and made themselves available for follow-up; the board thanked the audit team for the presentation.