If they gave school districts letter grades, the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake school district just earned an A+ for its fiscal management and record keeping.
After weeks of analysis, the state Comptroller’s Office announced that its auditors did not find any reportable weaknesses in the district’s overall financial controls and records. This distinction places BH-BL in the top 5 percent of all New York school districts.
We celebrate that our focus on integrity, our clearly delineated procedures and our adherence to district policies and regulations have insured its clean audit, said Superintendent Jim Schultz. `This sends a clear message to taxpayers of the integrity and skill of those entrusted with their public funds.`
State auditors reviewed records for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years, and concluded there was no reason for a return visit to scrutinize the records before these time periods.
`They way it works, they would have gone back further had they found any concerns,` said BH-BL Assistant Superintendent Jacqueline St. Onge.
There are five schools in operation within the district, with approximately 3,500 students and 585 employees. The district’s budgeted expenditures for the 2006-07 fiscal year were $47 million, which were funded primarily with state aid, real property taxes, and grants.
At an audit committee meeting with BH-BL Board of Education members, state associate examiner Scott Messineo stated that fewer than 5 percent of the school districts audited to date by the comptroller’s office have received a report with no findings of any flaws.
The good grades come despite tougher rules governing how districts are managed. In 2004, after the discovery of massive fraud in a Long Island school district, the state comptroller’s office initiated a five-point plan that included new fraud prevention and accountability rules for schools. Additionally, a 2005 law requires that all public school districts, BOCES and charter schools be audited by the comptroller’s office within five years.
Two-phase process
State auditors start each school analysis with an in-depth review of multiple areas of district records.
`They look for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in financial controls, especially in areas where other districts have been found to have problems,` said School Business Administrator Dina Edgar. `This review covers such areas as payroll, inventory records, purchasing, banking and investments, cash receipts, cell phone billing, credit card activity, network security, conference and travel expenses, and reimbursements to individuals.`
Phase two in the state audit is a detailed examination of weak areas.
`The reviewers did not identify any areas at Burnt Hills that would require further auditing, but his team is required to prepare a report on every district regardless,` said Edgar.
Since payroll is a high-risk area for any employer, the auditors focused on this with an inspection called `internal controls over payroll processing.` This detailed review also failed to uncover any reportable problems.
The auditors did recommend that BH-BL could reduce the potential risk of fraud by hiring a second payroll clerk, but St. Onge said it was unnecessary to incur this additional expense.
`Instead, procedures were changed so that payroll changes cannot take effect without being reviewed by other existing staff members,` said St. Onge.
District historically scores high
Receiving a clean audit report from the state is becoming a regular occurrence for BH-BL business office staff. The district has a track record of across-the-board clean audits for every year since 1987 from external auditing company Dorfman-Robbie, P.C.
`We’ve been tightening up our procedures, making sure everything is in writing and learning from the experience of other districts for the past two years,` said Edgar. `The pressure was intense, but this is the best pat on the back a business office can get.`
The complete report is available on the state comptroller’s Web site at: http://osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/2007/schools/index.htm “
