Polk audit: district's internal funds earn clean opinion as school-level findings decline
Summary
External auditors reported a clean opinion on Polk County Schools' internal funds, noting about $15.8 million in assets and a year-over-year reduction in findings (deficit balances fell from 68 to five). Auditors recommended targeted school-level training and an annual disaster-recovery IT test.
The Polk County School Board on Jan. 27 received a presentation from external auditors on the district's internal funds, which primarily hold student activity accounts such as prom tickets and fundraisers. Jennifer Christiansen, the engagement lead, said the audit produced an "unmodified report" — a clean audit opinion — and highlighted both the size and composition of the funds: "the total assets were about $15,800,000," mostly cash and investments, with roughly $759,000 in liabilities.
Christiansen said auditors identified two related adjustments to record an allowance for doubtful accounts and a handful of immaterial past-period adjustments (for example, yearbook inventory write-downs). She also described compliance testing at scale: "we do compliance testing on 100% of the schools and departments" that had activity in internal funds, producing school-level findings and responses.
The audit found improvements across the district. Christiansen displayed trend data showing more schools with two or fewer findings and said deficit balances decreased from 68 accounts last year to five this year. She singled out the most common findings: untimely fundraising reports (22 instances) and purchases made without documentary evidence of prior principal approval (20 instances), which auditors classified as a deficiency.
Superintendent Hyde and audit staff told the board they will target corrective training and follow-up at the specific schools with repeat findings rather than districtwide retraining. Hyde said the district will also notify vendors that shipments before purchase approval will not be tolerated and will reinforce approval processes to reduce exposure.
Board members pressed on enforcement for outside organizations such as booster clubs and PTAs. The auditors noted that the principal remains responsible for activity tied to outside organizations and that the internal audit office maintains a spreadsheet of expected submissions and follows up as necessary. The board's suggested next steps included targeted training, continued school-level exit conferences, and an internal-audit follow-up when cash or ticket discrepancies are large.
The presentation closed with praise from board members for the audit team and district staff who implemented changes: the decrease in findings and reduction in deficit balances were repeatedly described as a positive sign of progress. The district indicated it will continue the combination of compliance testing, targeted training, and periodic internal audits to reduce procedural deficiencies.
The board asked staff to bring follow-up information about the IT disaster-recovery test schedule and the plan for targeted retraining to future meetings.
