Albany schools receive clean external audit; auditors note recurring reconciling delays tied to staffing turnover

External auditors reported a clean set of opinions for the Albany City School District's most recent fiscal year but flagged a repeat operational issue related to account reconciliations.

Doug Zimmerman of EFPR told the board the firm will issue unmodified opinions on the district's basic financial statements, the federal single audit and extracurricular activity funds. He said the auditors tested internal controls, examined significant programs (including special education cluster, child nutrition cluster and 21st Century Community Learning Centers) and found no instances of noncompliance that required reporting.

"All the records and information we requested were freely made available," Zimmerman said, and he complimented the business office for cooperation during the audit.

The single audit covered approximately $28 million in federal awards passed through New York State. Auditors noted no material compliance exceptions in the programs reviewed.

However, the auditors repeated a finding from the prior year: staffing changes during the year led to delays reconciling asset and liability accounts across multiple funds. Those delays required audit adjustments to present financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Zimmerman said the volume of adjustments declined from the prior year but recommended stabilizing staffing and improving monthly reconciliations to prevent recurrence.

Board members on the audit committee praised the favorable opinion and asked auditors what districts can do to avoid such reconciling delays. Zimmerman said turnover makes it difficult to maintain timely accounting, and that hiring and retaining qualified staff is the principal mitigation.

The board voted unanimously to accept and adopt the audit results as presented.