Gilbertsville-Mount Upton Central School District Financial Management - Executive Summary The Gilbertsville-Mount Upton Central School District (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. The District Treasurer performs all the critical duties of the cash receipt and disbursement process as well as overseeing the work of the Deputy District Treasurer and claims auditor. The Board has designated the Superintendent as the District’s purchasing agent, and he authorizes all District purchases. Scope and Objective The objective of our audit was to determine if the Board of Education was fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities to the School District for the period July 1, 2005 through September 20, 2006. Our audit addressed the following related questions:
Audit Results Our audit found weaknesses in the design and operation of the internal controls over cash receipts and disbursements. Specifically, the claims auditor does not report directly to the Board and is not independent of business office operations as she is supervised by the District Treasurer and has a role in the cash disbursements function. In addition, the cash disbursements process does not properly minimize the risk of unauthorized disbursements occurring and being detected. Furthermore, there is insufficient segregation of duties over the cash receipts process. Our audit also found that although the District’s purchasing policies and procedures appear to have been designed properly, they are not operating in an effective manner, as six of the 10 sample claims we tested totaling $12,538 did not have supporting evidence that staff solicited the recommended three quotes nor why the purchases were approved without the required quotes. Comments of Local Officials 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. |