Independent auditor gives RSU 57 a clean FY25 opinion, flags minor time-card sampling comment

Marcus Pratt, the manager in charge of RSU 57's independent audit engagement, told the Finance Committee on April 28 that the district's FY25 financial statements received an unmodified ("clean") opinion, meaning the statements are materially stated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Pratt said auditors performed interim control testing May 12'13, 2025 and fieldwork the week of July 28, 2025. He told the committee the district's financial statements "did receive an unmodified opinion, that is also known as a clean opinion," and emphasized auditors provide reasonable — not absolute — assurance.

In addition to the financial-statement opinion, Pratt said the Yellow Book (GAGAS) report and single-audit compliance work identified no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies and no findings. Pratt said testing of federal programs, including ESSER and Title I, also produced no findings.

Pratt reviewed key budget results: the district budgeted roughly $49 million in revenues and ended the year with about $497,000 (approximately 1%) more than budgeted; the state allocation came in roughly $70,000 over budget and interest earnings exceeded budget by about $256,000, which Pratt attributed to higher market rates and conservative estimates.

On expenditures, Pratt said the district spent about $51 million versus a $53.5 million budget, roughly $2.6 million under budget overall. Major contributors included elementary and secondary instruction running about $1.3'$1.4 million under budget because of open positions and lower salary/benefit costs; transportation was about $0.5 million under budget from savings on parts, fuel and benefits.

A committee member raised an internal-control concern after Pratt's presentation about a small number of unsigned or unapproved time cards found in sampling. Pratt explained the auditors' statistical sampling approach and said "after say, two or three exceptions in our sample, it doesn't make sense for us to test more," offering that the issue could be recorded as an "other comment" in the management letter rather than a more serious finding. Pratt and the committee agreed the matter reflected isolated exceptions rather than systemic control failure.

Pratt also confirmed a prior-year 2024 graduation-reporting finding had been corrected when the auditors retested the program this year and found no issues.

The committee had no further questions and accepted the auditor's presentation. Pratt said auditors plan to begin FY26 audit work on May 11'12.