GRPS finance office briefs board: annual audit process, single-audit rules, one food-service finding
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Summary
Finance director Miss Cribbs told the board the district’s financial statements are prepared under GAAP, audit results and FID reporting are due Nov. 1, and that while GRPS has an unmodified opinion, a prior food-service control lapse generated a corrective action plan.
Miss Cribbs, the district finance staff lead, gave a high-level briefing on the annual audit process, telling the board audits are a state requirement performed by a certified public accountant and that ‘‘the information is due to the state by November 1, and they have to be available to the public.’’
She said auditors normally perform systems testing in July, return after Labor Day to test balances and tie out assets and liabilities, and complete field work in roughly two weeks. Auditors deliver three principal documents: a report to the Board of Education, the full financial statements and a federal awards schedule with related report letters. She noted the district posts audit results on the district transparency page.
On accounting standards, Miss Cribbs said the district is implementing GASB 101 related to compensated absences, which will change how some items are recorded in the statements. She also said the district will ask Plante Moran to prepare the annual financial statements this year to improve efficiency given recent business-office staffing changes.
Addressing findings, Miss Cribbs reviewed the last five years of single-audit reports and said most years showed no findings, but auditors previously identified a significant deficiency tied to food-service administration. The issue involved manual free/reduced lunch applications (one of 53 manual applications contained inconsistencies) that led to an improper reduced-price determination; food service added an extra review step and submitted a corrective action plan.
Board members asked whether findings preclude an unmodified opinion; Miss Cribbs confirmed they do not, explaining that an unmodified opinion means the financial statements are ‘‘fairly presented in all material respects’’ even when control findings exist. She said districts that expend more than $750,000 in federal awards are subject to single-audit testing and that auditors rotate testing among major programs (this year including child nutrition and special education clusters).
The briefing concluded with a reminder that auditors present results to the board in October and that the audit and FID reporting must be completed by the November 1 deadline.
