Saint Louis Park auditors give unmodified opinion but flag bank-reconciliation weakness; board hears budget forecast

At the Jan. 28, 2025, Saint Louis Park School Board meeting, auditors reported an unmodified (clean) opinion on the district’s 2024 financial statements while identifying a material weakness in internal control over bank reconciliations and two Minnesota legal-compliance findings.

Jim Eichton, who presented on behalf of the auditing team that performed the fiscal-year 2024 audit, said the auditors implemented a new accounting standard for grouped capital assets that added about $3 million of capital assets to the district’s records. The audit also included the federal single-audit work, which reviewed approximately $3,800,000 in federal awards for the year, and selected the special-education program for federal compliance testing.

Eichton said the audit team issued an unmodified opinion on the basic financial statements and the single-audit reports but listed one material weakness and two findings in the management report. The material weakness concerned the timeliness and accuracy of monthly bank reconciliations; auditors said reconciliations were not always completed on time or recorded accurately, which weakens internal controls over financial reporting. Auditors said corrective actions were underway and credited new accounting staff with making improvements.

Two Minnesota legal-compliance findings were reported. The auditors…