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Lancaster ISD accepts 2023–24 financial audit; auditors give unmodified opinion
Summary
External auditors from Whitley Penn presented the 2023–24 financial and single-audit results, reporting an unmodified (clean) opinion and no internal-control findings; the board approved the audit report.
The Lancaster Independent School District Board of Trustees on Thursday accepted the district’s 2023–24 financial audit after auditors from Whitley Penn presented a clean report with no internal-control findings and no compliance findings on federal programs.
Addison Ebarb, senior manager at Whitley Penn, told the board the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the government-wide financial statements and on the federal single audit. The auditors reported total federal awards expenditures for fiscal 2024 of about $18.5 million and said the district’s major federal programs tested this year were the Child Nutrition Cluster and the Special Education Cluster. The firm classified the district as a low-risk auditee for the single-audit cycle.
On core financials, the auditors reported government-wide total assets of about $272 million (driven by $206.4 million in capital assets and roughly $54.1 million in cash and investments) and total liabilities of roughly $229.4 million, including bonds of about $159.9 million and pension and OPEB liabilities. The auditors said the district ended fiscal 2024 with a government-wide net position of approximately $38.7 million and that general fund balances increased by about $2.6 million to end the year near $39 million.
Board members asked questions about the scope of a financial audit versus a forensic audit. Ebarb explained a financial audit provides assurance that the financial statements are materially correct and includes testing of internal controls but does not perform the investigative work of a forensic audit, which is designed to search for specific wrongdoing.
Trustee Nichols and Secretary Morris praised the finance staff’s work. The board voted to accept the audit; the secretary reported six votes in favor and one abstention. The board then signed the required engagement and representation materials.
Why this matters: A clean audit provides formal assurance to taxpayers, state regulators and lenders that the district’s financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that the district complied with tested federal requirements.
