District hires new auditors; corrective-action work on FY23 issues is ongoing

District officials told the board they have engaged a new audit firm, Bonschak and Fromelt, and scheduled a planning meeting to set fieldwork dates for late March or early April. Staff said the district will be treated as a higher-risk client this audit cycle because of timing, which will require expanded testing procedures.

"We have engaged a new audit firm, Bonschak and Fromelt ... We have our planning meeting next week," said the finance director, who noted the firm's expanded testing will reflect the district's audit timing and outstanding corrective items.

Finance staff reported that capital and activities accounts still need reconciliation, and that some corrective items from the FY23 audit remain ongoing. The corrective-action timelines provided to the board show many control items scheduled for resolution by March 7, although staff said ongoing deficiencies identified in earlier audits will still appear in FY24 audit documentation because of timing of operational changes.

Board members asked whether the district can catch up on back audits; staff said the workload is large but they plan to conduct the FY26 audit with fieldwork in the March timeframe and aim to complete the subsequent final audit work by March 2027 if possible. Staff described smaller corrective actions already completed, such as removing inappropriate ledger access from some employees to improve segregation of duties.

At the meeting's close, a voice motion carried after a member identified Charlie as the mover and a second was recorded; the transcript records only a voice "Aye" and no roll-call tally in the meeting record.

Staff said they will return with further audit timing and reconciliation updates as the audit firm finalizes its plan.