Auditor: Sumner County schoolsinternal funds received clean opinion, two significant deficiencies noted

Andy Matlock, audit manager for Matlock Clements, presented the district's internal school funds audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and told the Sumner County Board the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the financial statements.

"We issued an unmodified opinion, which is a clean opinion," Matlock said, adding that the firm did not find any material weaknesses but reported two significant deficiencies. He said the audit report is dated Dec. 8, 2022, and covers the 2021-22 school year.

Matlock summarized the districtwide figures included in the report: total fund balance increased by a little over $800,000 from the prior year to about $7,182,000; combined school revenues rose to $13,124,000 (an increase of nearly $4 million compared with the prior period as activity returned after COVID); expenditures totaled a little over $12,000,000.

Board members asked how auditors test controls and transactions. Matlock described the approach: interviews with bookkeepers and staff, design-level internal control interviews, and transaction sampling across receipts, disbursements, fundraisers and transfers using a testing sheet tied to the Tennessee internal school uniform accounting policy manual.

District staff confirmed the board's internal audit team and state and federal auditors regularly monitor accounts; the district also runs ongoing monitoring and pre-audit work ahead of the comptroller's financial audit. Board members praised the district internal audit team for supporting bookkeepers and helping other districts model their processes.

The presentation concluded with Matlock offering to answer follow-up questions; board members did not take formal action during the study session.