Audit issues internal-control deficiencies but issues clean opinion; board accepts report
Summary
External auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on Sweetwater County School District #1's 2024–25 financial statements but identified three significant deficiencies — budget reconciliation, late purchase orders, and procurement documentation lapses for two contracts — all of which management agreed to address. The board voted to accept the audit report.
The Sweetwater County School District #1 board accepted its 2024–25 audit after external auditors presented a clean opinion on the district’s financial statements while identifying three significant internal-control deficiencies.
The auditor told trustees the financial statements "present fairly in all material respects" and described that as "what we call a clean audit opinion." The firm summarized district totals, including combined assigned and unassigned fund balance of about $17,500,000 compared with a current-year threshold of approximately $21,000,000, and total revenues near $108,000,000, a roughly $5.6 million decrease from the prior year driven largely by declining grant revenue.
Alongside the opinion, the auditors reported three significant deficiencies they required to include in the public report. First, the district "did not reconcile the budget balances recorded in the audit software to the board approved budget," increasing the risk that the accounting system and board intent can diverge. Second, auditors found that in 6 of 92 tested expenditure transactions, purchase orders were approved after goods or services were provided, undermining procurement controls. Third, as part of the single-audit testing of federal programs, auditors "did find 2 contracts in which bids were not solicited as required" and that suspension/debarment checks (for example via sam.gov) were not documented for those vendors before award.
The auditor recommended implementing documented reconciliations between the board-approved budget and the accounting software at the start of each fiscal year and enforcing existing procurement and purchase-order policies. Management representatives at the meeting acknowledged the findings, described steps already taken (including a procurement "cheat sheet" and renewed purchase-order directives), and said corrective actions were in progress.
Superintendent Libby and staff noted the district had self-reported a procurement concern and worked with the auditor and federal programs to clarify expectations. Trustee questions focused on whether the deficiencies reflected recent changes or longer-standing practices; the superintendent’s finance staff and the district’s new business officer said that some issues predated recent leadership changes and that steps taken this year have started to correct process gaps.
The board then moved to accept the audit as presented; the motion carried by voice vote.
What happens next: management’s corrective action plan is included with the audit report; trustees were urged to monitor implementation of the reconciliation and procurement controls at future meetings.
