Evanston board to seek clarifications from two forensic audit bidders amid $1M lost-interest hit from county
Loading...
Summary
Trustees reviewed two forensic-audit bids with a large price gap and asked staff to clarify sample sizes and scope; the board also discussed about $1 million in foregone interest tied to Cook County tax software problems and will consider a resolution Jan. 26.
The Evanston CCSD 65 board on Jan. 12 discussed two bids for a proposed forensic financial audit and directed staff to seek clarifying details from both firms before choosing a vendor.
Board members said the two bids differ substantially in price and scope. One board member described the gap as roughly $75,000 versus $160,000 and noted that the higher-priced proposal (Crowe, as referenced in the memo) appeared to include deeper substantiation — including transaction tracing to bank records, vendor and payroll legitimacy checks, payroll anomaly analysis and credit-card spending reviews — not spelled out in the lower-priced bid from BDO.
A board member summarized the next steps: ask both bidders to confirm the number of transactions included in their sampling methodologies and to confirm whether items such as payroll legitimacy, bank tracing and credit-card reviews are included; request a not-to-exceed price; and, if necessary, bring both firms in for interviews. Staff member Tamara said she would engage the bidders to get the requested clarifications and cautioned that proposed timelines (both firms proposed completion by April) might extend once testing begins.
The board also addressed a separate finance issue: county property-tax software problems have delayed distributions and reduced interest income for multiple districts. Finance staff estimated roughly $1,000,000 in lost interest revenue so far, plus additional interest costs and issuance fees tied to tax-anticipation warrants (staff cited roughly $120,000 in interest costs and a $27,500 issuance fee as examples). District staff said they are coordinating with the North Cook superintendents group and a Cook County Tax Coalition to gather data and seek potential relief, and that a formal resolution on the issue will be presented for consideration at the Jan. 26 meeting.
No final vendor choice for the forensic audit was approved on Jan. 12; trustees directed staff to follow up with bidders and to return with clarified scopes, sample sizes and pricing before any final award.
