Wall School District 51-5 receives clean FY24 audit; two recurring internal-control weaknesses noted

Lucas Howard, an auditor with ELO CPAs & Advisors, told the Wall School District 51-5 board the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the district’s FY24 financial statements and a clean single-audit covering federal awards.

Howard said the district expended about $1,500,000 in federal awards during the year, with impact aid accounting for roughly $950,000 of that total. He reported a net increase in net assets of about $700,000 for the year and noted total assets of roughly $17.78 million, total liabilities near $1.3 million, and a net position of about $15.8 million. Much of the asset growth reflected capital investment tied to construction of the new CTE building, Howard said.

Howard also read the governance letter and the schedule of prior and current audit findings. While the single-audit produced no compliance findings on federal awards, the firm identified two material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting — repeat findings the auditor tied to the district’s small staffing levels and the resulting limits on segregation of duties. "These are common among most of the school districts in the state," Howard said, and the findings were carried forward from prior years.

Board members asked where to find the fund-balance and net-position details in the report; the auditor pointed to the management discussion and financial statement pages and invited members to forward detailed questions through district staff. The board also discussed fund-balance presentation and capital-outlay usage tied to the CTE project.

The audit presentation closed with the auditor reiterating that no disagreements with management occurred during the engagement and offering to answer follow-up questions through the superintendent’s office.