Board approves 2024 audit after auditors report unmodified opinion

Auditors presented the 02/2024 financial audit to the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District board Thursday and the board approved the report by motion and roll‑call vote.

Kyle Gruber, senior manager with Wipley (introduced to the board by Chad Trowbridge), told the board the audit yielded an unmodified opinion and no significant financial or grant findings. He noted a modest total net position increase—about $1,000,000—and that about $89,000 of that increase applied at the fund level. Gruber said there were no internal control findings in the auditor’s report and no federal or state grant findings from their testing.

Board members asked where to find a concise summary of compliance and any deficiencies in the audit letter and schedules; Gruber said the audit letter provides headline statements and the schedule of findings (toward the end of the financials) provides more detail if an item exists.

Following the presentation, a motion to approve the audit report was made by Olsen and seconded by Martineau; the board carried the motion by roll call and the chair announced the audit report approved as presented.

Why it matters: An unmodified audit opinion indicates the financial statements are presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; the absence of findings on internal controls or grants reduces immediate compliance risk as the district moves into budgeting and ESSER reporting.

Next steps: The board accepted the audit report for further discussion under its financial administration oversight and thanked the auditors and district staff for the work producing a clean report.