Independent auditors give Forest Grove SD a clean opinion; suggest trimming bank accounts and 403(b) compliance step

Forest Grove School District auditors presented their annual report to the board on Jan. 28 and said they issued an unmodified (clean) audit opinion for the district's fiscal year.

Lead auditor David Bledsoe told the board the audit covered two single-audit programs (ASR and the Child Nutrition cluster) and that the district had no material weaknesses or separate management-letter items this year. "The audit opinion... whether the books made sense to the report, make sense to the numbers, make sense. Yes," he said.

Bledsoe identified a minor item of note: an over-expenditure in an OMS account (referenced in the audit letter and on page 72 of the packet). He described this as not material and not a finding that would change the audit opinion. He also noted that the district has many bank accounts and recommended the district consider consolidating them where possible; staff said many smaller accounts exist because of outside-donation requirements.

Two routine recommendations in the board letter addressed 403(b) vendor compliance (asking vendors for a specialized audit report covering data controls) and reviewing bank-account structure. Bledsoe described upcoming GASB technical pronouncements (compensated-absences reporting and risk-disclosure changes) that the district will implement in future fiscal years.

Board members thanked the business office for timely responses during the audit; the packet shows capital asset spending of about $17 million during the year tied to bond projects and an increase in the general-fund balance.

The auditors fielded board questions and offered to explain technical GASB changes in follow-up conversations.