Auditors give Berkeley School District 87 a clean FY2024 opinion; board accepts audit

Berkeley School District 87’s outside auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the district’s fiscal year 2024 financial statements and the Board of Education voted to accept the audit at its December meeting. Joe Lykett of Baker Tilly presented the district’s annual comprehensive financial report and an audit results letter to the board.

Lykett told the board the firm “once again issued a clean or unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements,” meaning the auditors concluded the financial statements are free from material misstatement and can be reasonably relied upon. He said the audit included a review of federal awards and the district’s federal nutrition cluster and that the auditors “found no problems, no issues with those programs.”

The auditors reported that net position increased during fiscal 2024, citing completion of construction projects and normal bond spending as drivers. Lykett said net position increased by about $10.7 million and that, across all governmental funds, fund balance decreased by about $5.4 million because the district spent down $13.5 million in capital project funds. He also noted the district’s operating funds held about 10.5 months of expenditures in reserve.

Lykett highlighted that the Illinois State Board of Education financial profile score for the district remained high at 3.7 on a 1-to-4 scale; the only lower metric was the percentage of long‑term debt remaining, a result of prior referendum borrowing for building projects. The audit results letter contained no disagreements with management and no material adjustments, but the auditors repeated a common control comment: Baker Tilly assisted the district with preparation of the audited financial statements. Lykett said that assistance creates a control weakness because the auditor prepared a document that management subsequently takes responsibility for.

After the presentation, the board moved and approved a motion to accept the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. The motion carried on a roll-call vote.

The audit presentation and the audit results letter were provided to the board as part of the district’s publicly available audit materials and include ten years of historical financial information, management’s discussion and analysis, statements of net position and activities, governmental funds schedules, and federal single-audit testing documentation.

Board members and staff were invited to contact Joe Lykett at Baker Tilly with questions; Lykett said his contact information is listed on the audit results letter.