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Board accepts fiscal 2025 audit after auditor details liabilities, controls and food-service gap
Summary
The board approved the fiscal 2025 financial and compliance audit after the auditor described a clean opinion possibility, a $3.6 million GASB-driven compensated-absence increase, OPEB trust gains and a school food-service deficit that received a $500,000 transfer.
The DeSoto Parish School Board on Monday voted to accept the comprehensive annual financial report and the single-audit package for the year ended June 30, 2025, after the district's auditors reviewed financial statements, funding changes and control findings.
Auditor (presenter) told the board the report includes the management's discussion and, if reached, an unmodified or "clean" opinion is the best outcome. The auditor highlighted that operating grants fell by about $5,300,000 from the prior year, sales-tax receipts rose roughly $2,000,000 and property-tax revenue changed by about $500,000.
The presenter said a recent Governmental Accounting Standards Board standard increased the recorded liability for compensated absences by about $3,600,000 under full-accrual accounting. He also reviewed the district's OPEB trust and net OPEB liability, reporting the trust at about $94.9 million and noting the net OPEB liability decreased from about $45.2 million to about $41.6 million, in part because of market gains in the trust.
The auditor showed the district's net position grew from roughly $137.1 million to about $166.2 million year over year and told the board the unassigned governmental fund balance would cover about half a year of operating expenses.
The report included testing of child-nutrition records with no exceptions, but the auditor flagged a carryover internal-control finding tied to implementation of new accounting software (late or unreconciled bank recons and post-trial-balance entries). The auditor's management-letter items recommended consistent documentation and monitoring for "leave for school business" after testing the top 25 employees with the most such leave.
Board members moved to accept the audit, the board voiced "Aye," and the motion carried. The auditor thanked accounting staff and said the audit is publicly available on the legislative auditor's website and offered to answer follow-up questions.
