Onondaga Central School District Claims Audit and the Treasurer’s Operations

Onondaga Central School District Claims Audit and the Treasurer’s Operations - Introduction

Background

The Onondaga Central School District (District) is located in the Towns of Layfayette, Marcellus, Onondaga, and Otisco, in Onondaga County. There are three schools in operation within the District, with approximately 1,050 students and approximately 180 full- and part-time employees. The District’s general fund expenditures for the 2005-06 fiscal year were about $14.1 million, funded primarily with State aid and real property taxes. 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.

The Board annually appoints a claims auditor who assumes the Board’s powers and duties with regard to approving or denying claims against the District and serves as final authorization to process a payment. Responsibilities related to the District’s finances, accounting records and reports are largely those of the Business Administrator who also serves as the purchasing agent. The District Treasurer is responsible for receiving, disbursing, and holding District money. All computerized checks are generated and printed by the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES at the Central New York Regional Information Center (CNYRIC). The District’s financial statements undergo an annual audit by an independent auditor.

Objective

The objective of our audit was to examine the District’s internal controls relating to the audit of claims, and the Treasurer’s operations for the period July 1, 2005 to December 31, 2006. Our audit addressed the following related question:

Are internal controls over the auditing of claims, and the Treasurer’s operations, appropriately designed and operating effectively to adequately safeguard District assets?

Scope and Methodology

Our overall goal was to assess the adequacy of the internal controls put in place by officials to safeguard District assets. To accomplish this, we performed an initial assessment of the internal controls so that we could design our audit to focus on those areas most at risk. Our initial assessment included evaluations of the following areas: financial oversight, cash receipts and disbursements, purchasing, and payroll and personal services. Based on that evaluation, we determined that controls appeared to be adequate and limited risk existed in most of the financial areas we reviewed. We did determine that risk existed in the claims audit and the Treasurer’s operations and, therefore, we examined internal controls over these areas 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 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.

Complete Audit in PDF