Teton County District auditors flag internal‑control gaps; board sends audit to state while approval is pending
Loading...
Summary
An outside auditor delivered the Teton County District’s 2024–25 audit, highlighting a qualified opinion tied to an optional OPEB study, a large modernization‑fund cash increase and internal‑control gaps after a software conversion.
An outside auditor presented the Teton County District’s 2024–25 financial audit and raised several issues the board agreed to track before final sign‑off.
Miss Theresa, the auditor, told the board the district received a qualified opinion tied to an optional OPEB actuarial study and that assets rose substantially because modernization grant money had been received: “that huge jump is mostly related to modernization funding,” she said during the presentation. She also highlighted a $244,000 loss in the child nutrition fund this year and a remaining balance of roughly $282,000, warning that another loss of that size would nearly exhaust the fund.
Theresa flagged problems tied to the district’s recent financial‑software conversion and recommended changes to internal controls and staffing. She said reconciliations and fund coding issues resulted from the transition and identified duplicated coding of modernization receipts totaling about $395,000 that required correction. Her written recommendations included raising the district’s capitalization threshold to $10,000 to align with micro‑purchase rules and pursuing periodic third‑party reviews or additional accounting staff to improve segregation of duties.
Board members debated whether to approve the nearly 100‑page audit at the meeting. A motion to approve the audit “as presented” with the option to revisit questions later passed by voice, but some trustees objected that they had not had time to read the full report. The board later moved to rescind that approval and instead instructed Business Manager Diane to submit the audit to the state with a note that final board approval remained pending. The board set a deadline of December 8 to make a final decision.
“Submit it to the state and let them know that the approval of the audit is pending with the deadline for that decision to be made by December 8,” a trustee said when the board set the timetable.
Next steps: district staff will collect board questions and follow up with the auditor; the board scheduled a fuller review and an opportunity to revisit findings at its December meeting.
