Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Audit Financial Statements topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Independent audit: Elmhurst District 205 receives clean opinion; revenue recognition change raises ISBE profile score
Summary
External auditors gave an unmodified (clean) opinion on District 205 financial statements and noted a change in property-tax revenue recognition that improved the district’s ISBE financial profile score from 2.4 (watch) to 3.8.
Wipfli partner Scott Denzer presented Elmhurst CUSD 205’s annual financial statement audit to the Board of Education Dec. 17 and said the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the district’s basic financial statements.
Denzer told the board the district prepared an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) that exceeds minimum reporting requirements and was submitted to the Association of School Business Officials for a reporting checklist review (an award process that checks report completeness, not fiscal performance).
The auditor noted several technical and financial items: the district changed its revenue recognition policy, electing to report the May–June tax collections in the year they were received rather than deferring them. That change aligned the district with most Illinois districts and raised the Illinois State Board of Education financial profile score from 2.4 (watch) to 3.8, Denzer said.
Denzer said the district reported about $7.8 million in net income before other financing sources and uses. After approximately $11 million in transfers to capital projects and roughly $13 million in total transfers (debt service and capital), the major operating funds showed a negative $5.0 million change in fund balance for the year. Capital assets increased about $34 million year over year, reflecting a multi-year capital improvement program; management has engaged appraisal services to reassess capital asset records.
The audit also described required accounting estimates that affect the statements (pension and OPEB liabilities, and an on‑behalf payment by the state to TRS that the auditors estimated at about $38 million and recorded in the financial statements per GASB guidance). Denzer clarified that the financial statement audit does not provide an opinion on the effectiveness of internal controls (that would be a separate engagement).
Board members asked questions about how the revenue-recognition change affected comparability and the ISBE profile score; Denzer explained that the accounting choice changed reported fund-balance ratios that ISBE weighs heavily and that actual cash resources were unchanged. Several trustees thanked the auditor and administration for the report.
No board action was required; the audit presentation was informational.
