Sunnyside Unified board accepts clean audit for fiscal 2023–24

The Sunnyside Unified School District Governing Board voted unanimously to accept the district's annual comprehensive financial report and audit for fiscal year 2023'1924 at its June meeting.

The district's independent auditors issued unmodified opinions on the financial statements and found no material weaknesses in internal control, Christopher Heinfeld, the audit partner on the engagement, told the board. "We're issuing what we called unmodified opinions," Heinfeld said during his presentation.

Why it matters: An unmodified (clean) opinion means the auditors believe the financial statements fairly present the district's finances in accordance with accounting standards. The district also cleared two findings flagged in the prior year's audit, the auditors said, meaning previously reported issues related to revenue recognition and time-and-effort reporting for federal grants had been corrected.

Heinfeld described the audit process and timing: the engagement letter was issued in May 2024, auditors performed preliminary fieldwork in June and concluding procedures in November, and the comprehensive financial report and single-audit materials were issued in subsequent months. He told the board the audit was performed in accordance with U.S. generally accepted auditing standards, Government Auditing Standards and uniform guidance for federal awards. He added the firm assisted district staff in preparing the financial statements and federal schedules but reported no disagreements with management and no significant adjusting journal entries that required board notification. "I'm glad to say this evening that we did not identify during the course of the audit any significant adjustments that rose to that level of being reported to you," Heinfeld said.

The auditor highlighted several technical items disclosed in the report, including implementation of GASB Statement No. 100, estimates around useful lives of depreciable assets and actuarial assumptions for the Arizona State Retirement System, and insurance claim estimates in the employee benefit trust.

Board members thanked finance staff and the audit team for their work. Board President Quintero and others commended Carla Walters and the finance team for their attention to detail; Walters told the board the district performs internal review and prepares corrective action plans for findings. The roll-call vote to accept the audit was recorded as all "ayes." "Thank you for all the work that you did," a board member said after the vote.

Ending: The accepted reports include the annual comprehensive financial report (about 130 pages), the single-audit reporting package and the Uniform System of Financial Records (USFR) compliance questionnaire. The board took no additional action beyond acceptance; next steps for the finance office include implementing corrective action plans and continuing to work with auditors on the next audit cycle.