Ausable Valley Central School District

Internal Controls Over Selected Financial Activities -
INTRODUCTION

Background

The Ausable Valley Central School District (District) is located in the Towns of Ausable, Black Brook, and Peru in Clinton County, the Towns of Chesterfield, Jay, Keene, Willsboro, and Wilmington in Essex County, and the Town of Franklin in Franklin County. The District is governed by the Board of Education (Board) which comprises seven elected members. The Board is responsible for the general management and control of the District’s financial and educational affairs. The Superintendent of Schools (Superintendent) is the chief executive officer of the District and is responsible, along with other administrative staff, for the day-to-day management of the District under the direction of the Board. Responsibilities relating to District finances, accounting records and reports are largely those of the School Business Executive.

There are three schools in operation within the District, with approximately 1,280 students and 280 employees. The District’s budgeted expenditures for the 2006-07 fiscal year were $22.6 million, which were funded primarily with State aid real property taxes, and grants.

The District reported approximately $22.5 million in general fund expenditures during the 2006-07 fiscal year. During the same year, the extra-classroom activity fund recorded more than $238,500 in receipts and disbursements. The District has approximately 700 individual computers that are networked together. District employees use computers in day-to-day operations for instructional purposes and to process financial transactions.

Objective

The objective of our audit was to determine if the District had established effective internal controls over extra-classroom activity funds and information technology. Our audit addressed the following related questions:

• Are internal controls over extra-classroom activity funds adequate?
  
  
• Are internal controls over the District’s information technology system appropriately designed to protect electronic data?

Scope and Methodology

During this audit we examined the District’s control environment and its internal controls, specifically related to extra-classroom activity funds and information technology, for the period July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2007.

We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS). More information on such standards and the methodology used in performing this audit are included in Appendix B of this report.

Comments of District Officials and Corrective Action

The results of our audit and recommendations have been discussed with District officials and their comments, which appear in Appendix A, have been considered in preparing this report. District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.

The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. Pursuant to Section 35 of the General Municipal Law, Section 2116-a (3)(c) of the Education Law and Section 170.12 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, the Board must approve a corrective action plan that addresses the findings in this report, forward the plan to our office within 90 days, forward a copy of the plan to the Commissioner of Education, and make the plan available for public review in the District Clerk’s office. For guidance in preparing the plan of action, the Board should refer to applicable sections in the publication issued by the Office of the State Comptroller entitled Local Government Management Guide.