External auditor: Flossmoor SD 161 to receive unmodified opinion; fund balance grew

Jeffrey Slade, senior manager at auditing firm RSM, told the Flossmoor School District 161 board Dec. 15 that the firm plans to issue an unmodified (clean) opinion on the district's 2025 financial statements. Slade said the audit identified no changes to significant accounting practices and no internal-control or compliance findings that would alter the opinion.

Slade summarized highlights: the district's general fund reported an increase in fund balance of about $1.8 million, bringing the general fund balance to roughly $35.9 million against annual expenditures of about $40.1 million. He noted net investment in capital assets and long-term debt figures as expected given recent bond issuances for projects and said the government-wide statement differences stem from the district's modified-cash basis reporting. "When we do issue the financial statements... we'll be issuing what is considered to be an unmodified opinion," Slade said.

Slade also reported single-audit compliance testing over ESSER funds and the child nutrition cluster produced no findings; he explained some timing delays stemmed from late county tax-agency reports and the federal compliance supplement release, which affected audit timing but not the reported results.

Board members asked clarifying questions about government-wide versus fund financial statements, testing of ESSER spending back to 2021, and the meaning of net investment in capital assets. Slade said the auditors performed standard sampling procedures across ESSER program years and that the district's position is financially healthy based on the audit evidence presented.

What happens next: RSM will finalize and release the financial statements and the single-audit report with the stated unmodified opinion and the single-audit results noted in the record.