FOR RELEASE:

DiNapoli's Office Completes School Audits

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced his office completed audits of Hawthorne Cedar Knolls Union Free School District and Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES.

“My office’s audits of school districts and BOCES help schools improve their financial management practices,” DiNapoli said. “These audits are tools for schools to make sure proper policies and procedures are in place to protect taxpayer dollars and provide students with the best possible education.”

Hawthorne Cedar Knolls Union Free School District – Internal Controls Over Selected Financial Activities (Westchester County)
District officials did not develop clear and comprehensive policies and procedures for procuring goods and services that are not subject to competitive bidding or to safeguard computer data. While the board adopted policies and provided a job description for the claims auditing function, the claims auditor did not always follow them.

Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES – Internal Controls Over Selected Financial Activities (Washington, Saratoga, Warren, Hamilton and Essex counties)
Although BOCES did not adopt formal policies for the payroll process, auditors found that controls were generally adequate. The board did not adopt a policy for providing food and beverages at events. As a result, the provision of meals and refreshments sometimes was not approved until after the event occurred and was not always adequately documented. BOCES did not establish formal policies and procedures governing the receipt, recording and depositing of cash, resulting in a risk of theft or loss of cash. BOCES did not effectively monitor the use of fuels at its two fuel points. Finally, the board established procedures that were designed to help distinguish employees from independent contractors. However, the procedures were not uniformly applied and, as a result, BOCES placed two professionals who should have been treated as independent contractors on the payroll and incorrectly enrolled them in the New York State and Local Retirement System.

Click here to view the audits above.

If you have any questions or would like a comment from the Comptroller’s office regarding any of the audits above, please call 518-474-4015.

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