Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Audit Financials topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fairmont Area School District receives clean audit but records $1.61 million GASB restatement
Summary
External auditors gave the district an unmodified (clean) opinion for fiscal 2025, noting a required accounting restatement of roughly $1.61 million for compensated-absence liabilities under new standards and several nonmaterial internal-control findings; the board approved the audit and was advised to submit a plan to reduce an excess food-service fund balance.
The Fairmont Area School District board on Dec. 9 heard its fiscal-year 2025 audit summary and approved the auditors27 report after a presentation from the audit team.
Audra, the presenting auditor, told the board the district received an unmodified, or clean, opinion on its financial statements and on compliance for major federal programs. "We concluded that the financial statements were prepared using correct accounting principles," the auditor said. The board was also informed the district expended about $2.1 million in federal awards during the year, triggering a single-audit requirement; the child nutrition cluster was the primary federal program tested.
Auditors said implementation of a new accounting standard (GASB 101) required a restatement of beginning balances, increasing the district27s long-term liabilities by approximately $1.61 million to account for compensated absences. The auditors characterized that restatement as consistent with other school districts this year and noted that the change was required by the standard.
The audit team listed several findings that led to recommendations but did not affect the audit opinion: recurring preparation-of-financial-statements assistance (district contracts for statement preparation), a correction of an investment reporting error related to the Partners in Education accounts, some nonmaterial audit journal entries, and incomplete employee personnel forms discovered during testing. The auditors said there were no findings related to federal-award testing for the child-nutrition program.
On district finances, the auditors reported revenues were about $116,000 over budget and expenditures about $29,000 under budget for fiscal 2025, leaving a general fund balance of about $9.7 million. The auditors noted the district27s fund-balance policy target range for FY25 and that the current unrestricted balance fell within those thresholds.
They flagged one compliance concern for the district to address: the food-service fund balance exceeded the state27s three-month maximum (roughly $534,000 for this district). The auditors recommended the district prepare and submit a plan to the state outlining how it proposes to reduce that excess balance (examples offered included equipment purchases or meal-price adjustments).
The board moved to approve the auditors27 report (motion by Dan; second by Jen) and accepted the presentation with a voice vote. Board members thanked district finance staff Jessica for supporting the audit work and for coordinating the auditors' information requests.
Next steps noted by the board included preparing any required filing related to the food-service fund balance and reflecting the GASB restatement in the district27s fiscal-year 2025 audited financial statements. The audit materials are available in the board packet referenced as the executive summary and appendix A.
