Harrison Central School District Internal Controls Over Purchasing and Payroll

Harrison Central School District Internal Controls Over Purchasing and Payroll - Introduction

Background

The Harrison Central School District (District) is located in the Town/Village of Harrison, Westchester 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 and is responsible, along with other administrative staff, for the day-to-day management of the District under the direction of the Board.

There are six schools in operation within the District with approximately 3,534 students and 658 employees. The District’s budgeted expenditures for the 2006-07 fiscal year were over $89 million, funded primarily with State aid and real property taxes.

The District Clerk also serves as the District’s purchasing agent. He is responsible for making all purchases including supplies, materials and equipment. The Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources is responsible for all personnel functions of the District.

Objective

The objective of our audit was to examine the adequacy of the District’s controls over purchasing and payroll. Our audit addressed the following related question:

Are internal controls over purchasing and payroll appropriately designed and operating effectively to adequately safeguard District assets?

Scope and Methodology

We examined the District ’s internal controls over its purchasing and payroll practices for the period July 1, 2005 to December 31, 2006.

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 plan to initiate corrective action.

Complete Audit in PDF