York County schools receive clean FY25 financial audit; GASB 101 restatement raises accrued liabilities
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Summary
Auditors from Brown, Edwards and Company issued an unmodified opinion on York County School Division's FY25 basic financial statements and state compliance reports. A new GASB 101 accounting standard increased beginning net position liabilities by about $17 million, a standards-driven restatement not a contribution shortfall.
Danielle Nicolaiacen, CPA of Brown, Edwards and Company, told the York County School Board on Dec. 15 that the auditor's opinion for FY25 was a clean, unmodified opinion on the basic financial statements. "In our opinion, the financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects," Nicolaiacen said during the work session.
The auditors described the scope of their work — a financial-statement audit, a state compliance audit and a federal program audit — and said testing covered receivables, payables, capital activity and pension/OPEB actuarial information. Nicolaiacen said the Impact Aid federal program audit was still wrapping up because the U.S. Department of Education issued updated guidance late in the year, but that "thus far, we have found no compliance noncompliance" in the testing completed to date and expect that report to issue in January.
A major technical change in this year's reporting stems from GASB 101, an accounting standard on compensated absences. "The impact of that beginning balance restatement on your net position was a $17,000,000 impact," Nicolaiacen said, explaining the liability increase is largely attributable to accruals for sick leave under the new measurement basis. She emphasized the restatement reflects a change in accounting measurement and is not evidence the school division missed required contributions to the Virginia Retirement System.
Nicolaiacen also reported no findings in the auditors' Yellow Book (government auditing standards) internal-control testing or in the state compliance audit, yielding two additional unmodified opinions on those reports.
Board members asked about awards for the division's financial reporting; Nicolaiacen explained that certificate programs such as the Government Finance Officers Association and the Association of School Business Officials evaluate financial-report construction and presentation and that divisions apply annually for those recognitions.
The audit presentation closed with the auditors answering board questions; the Impact Aid program report is expected to be issued in January 2026.