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Board accepts internal-accounts audit; auditor flags recurring receipt and transfer weaknesses
Summary
External auditors presented the fiscal-year audit for year ending June 30, 2024, issued an unmodified opinion and reported 11 significant deficiencies — recurring problems with unsupported disbursements, inadequate pre-numbered receipts, and unsupported transfers at several schools — and the board voted to accept the audit.
An external audit of the district’s internal accounts for the year ending June 30, 2024, was presented and accepted by the Madison County School Board. The auditor said the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion but found 11 significant deficiencies, down from 14 the prior year.
“Normally we have findings of internal control weaknesses … this year we did not classify the deficiencies as a material weakness,” the auditor said, describing how software and earlier decisions to cash certificates of deposit produced recorded-audit adjustments that required corrections to beginning balances at some schools. The auditor reported recorded audit adjustments affecting Madison County High School (about $56,000 in beginning-balance corrections across athletics-related internal funds) and Panetta school accounting entries caused by a CD cash-in that had been recorded as receipts.
The auditor described recurring problems across several schools: disbursements made without supporting invoices or dated receipts, pre-numbered receipts not used or not turned in timely, money collections that were retained outside the school office for days (in one case weeks) before deposit, and transfers between internal funds lacking documentation. The auditor called those two issues — unsupported checks/transfers and missing sequential receipts — the district’s “two biggest areas of concern” and said the problems increase audit hours and risk.
Board member discussion noted turnover among school bookkeepers and the difficulty that creates for consistent controls. The auditor recommended stricter adherence to the state “red book” guidance and district policy requiring substantiation for disbursements and timely, sequential receipts for collections.
The board moved to accept the audit report. The motion, made by Miss Knight and seconded by Miss Hagan, passed on a 5-0 vote. The accepted audit and the administrators’ written responses will be part of the public audit record.
