Auditor issues clean opinion but flags material weakness in districtfinancial controls

McGregor & Company auditor Neil Crder told the Bamberg County School District Board of Trustees on Monday that the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the districtFY 2023financial statements but described one material weakness in internal control related to the timeliness of revenue posting and bank reconciliations.

"Therefore in our opinion the financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects," Crder said, while noting separately that the district "fails to timely post revenues to the general ledger and to reconcile the bank statements in a timely manner," language he said appears in the written finding.

Crder told trustees the finding reflected timing and process breakdowns rather than missing funds and said district personnel have agreed with the finding and put procedures in place to prevent recurrence. He recommended more timely monthly reconciliations and monitoring.

The auditor also reviewed the districtsingle-audit components and said there were no compliance findings for the district's major federal program tested under Uniform Guidance.

Board members asked several procedural questions about the finding, including whether the delayed reconciliations had been fully caught up when auditors arrived; Crder said many items were completed late but that no funds were missing and that the finding was about internal-control timing. Trustees pressed staff on monitoring and suggested monthly reconciliation as the remedy.

Trustees accepted the audit presentation and placed the report in the district records. The board later accepted the routine monthly financial report and discussed follow-up steps to ensure the remedies are implemented.