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Auditor: Pawnee City Public Schools posts clean FY25 opinion, flags lunch fund deficit and control suggestions
Summary
Auditor Julie Baumann reported a clean (unmodified) FY25 opinion for Pawnee City Public Schools, noted a districtwide cash balance of $3.8 million and a $29,102 deficit in the school nutrition fund, and urged clearer board reporting and added payroll and W-4 controls.
Julie Baumann, the auditor who conducted Pawnee City Public Schools' FY25 audit, told the board the district received an unmodified (clean) opinion on its financial statements and that the district's combined cash-on-hand at year end was $3,825,751.
Baumann said the general fund showed a positive increase of $118,916 for the year and that the districtwide cash position rose by $92,046 overall. She noted the school nutrition (lunch) fund ran a deficit of $29,102, a pattern she said auditors saw across many districts this year because of higher food costs and reductions in some federal supports.
The auditor described the audit as a risk-based review of funds and internal controls and recommended several practical steps to improve board oversight: provide all fund reports to the board (not just the general fund), implement a sign-off on the payroll check register before payrolls are processed, encourage annual review or a W-4 guidance memo for employees after the redesigned federal form, and maintain timely bank reconciliations with secondary review. "We were very pleased with the bank reconciliations and documentation; we saw controls in place," Baumann said.
Baumann also explained how the report is organized: the back of the audit contains supplemental schedules and fund-level detail (she pointed to page 18 as a useful fund-by-fund summary). She described the audit process as showing no material weaknesses or compliance findings; the items she raised were framed as transparency and process improvements rather than reportable deficiencies.
Board members thanked Baumann and noted that updated internal reporting already in place made the information easier to follow this year. The board did not take formal action on the audit at the meeting beyond discussion and receiving the presentation.
The district plans to incorporate some of the auditor's recommendations into monthly reporting so trustees can monitor fund balances and payroll processes throughout the year.
