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Audit finds two bookkeeping issues but praises Colts Neck's fiscal condition
Summary
District auditors issued an unmodified opinion on the Colts Neck Township School District's 2025 financial statements but read two findings into the record: reconciliations for cash balances and an $11,000 payroll agency discrepancy; auditors recommended corrective actions that administration has already drafted.
John Swiss, partner with the district's auditing firm, presented the annual audit for the year ended June 30, 2025, telling the board the auditors rendered an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and found no problems with federal or state program compliance.
Swiss read two findings that the auditors are required to place in the record: first, cash balances reported by the board secretary did not agree with the reconciled treasurer's school monies report for the last six months of the year, a discrepancy the auditor attributed to turnover in a key business-office position and a concurrent accounting software conversion; second, an analysis of the payroll agency account was missing and the account showed about $11,000 in extra funds likely related to overfunding.
The auditor told the board that corrective action plans drafted by business administrator Vincent Morasco are expected to address both items and that, overall, the district remains in very good financial condition. Swiss noted the district finished the year with a healthy surplus and a roughly 5% reserve, and he said that federal/state program testing (including programs formerly covered by ESSER) produced no compliance exceptions.
Board members asked for further explanation of fluctuating actuarial pension and OPEB liabilities, and Swiss recommended that trustees focus on budgetary schedules (the C1 on the budgetary basis) for operational decision-making rather than the district-wide actuarial numbers that can vary widely with changing assumptions.
What the board recorded: The auditor read the two findings into the minutes as required and described the corrective action the business office has prepared. The board did not reject the audit; trustees thanked the auditor for the presentation.
Representative quote: "The first finding is that the cash balances per the board secretary's report did not agree to the reconciled balances of the treasurer's school monies report for the last six months of the year," the auditor read into the record.
Next steps: Administration will implement the corrective action plans and provide updates at future meetings.
