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Accomack board OKs budget transfers, vouchers as finance staff transitions to new accounting system
Summary
The school board approved several routine financial actions and heard a first report on a new accounting system that changes how encumbrances are shown; staff said some line-item transfers will follow to reconcile encumbrance coding.
The Accomack County School Board on Tuesday approved budget transfers and vouchers and received a first operating report showing how a new accounting system is changing how encumbrances and salaries appear in division reports.
A board member moved to approve the budget transfers "as presented," and the motion passed by voice vote. The board later approved the vouchers as presented.
Finance staff told the board the division closed the year with roughly $225,486 unspent from a $72 million budget after carrying some projects forward; final audit and year-end closing could change the number slightly. Staff said the division had its first year without ESSER funding, which posed a challenge for budgeting transitions.
The finance presentation focused on federal-program balances, including Perkins and Title II. Staff said Perkins is closed and Title II requires a budget amendment and transfer to close out the remaining $44,000 because the money is in a different object code than originally recorded.
The board was shown that the new accounting system auto-encumbers salaries for 12-month employees based on contract amounts; because many instructional staff are 10-month employees, those encumbrances do not appear until contracts begin in September. "You'll see some areas that have huge encumbrances. That's because they employ 12-month employees," staff explained. The system also exposed coding mismatches that staff said they will correct.
Board members were told memoranda of understanding with the sheriff's office and other MOUs will be returned for action at the next meeting after legal review.
Finance staff said they will prepare necessary budget amendments and transfers to fix object-code allocations and close out federal grants before the audit. No large new spending was approved at the meeting.
