Union Parish Schools have 10 audit findings

Union Parish Schools audit yields 10 findings that include financial reporting and adherence to public bid law. Three findings were tied to the Child Nutrition Program.

One finding noted that the school board did not submit financial records to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office by deadline.

Allen, Green & Williamson LLP conducted the audit, which encompassed the fiscal year ending June 30.

Financial reporting

Entity-wide, the auditors found that financial records should be reviewed in a timely manner to ensure accuracy. Among the auditor's findings, one deposit was not properly accrued, three recorded liability invoices were not appropriately accrued and one instance when the ending bank reconciliation balance did not agree with the cash balance on the ledger.

The audit notes that the business department has had significant turnover in the past two years, and the business manager was out of the office for an extended period following year end.

Auditors suggest that all deposits and invoices within two months after year-end should be reviewed and procedures should be established to ensure bank reconciliations align with the ledger and that ending balances provided for the audit are accurate, complete. The responsible official agreed with the findings.

Disbursements

Proper controls over disbursements entail that accurate supporting information be maintained, expenses be coded to the correct account, payments be remitted to the vendor in a timely manner and that school board policy be followed.

In one finding, testing 84 vendor disbursements and 83 payroll disbursements, the auditors found exceptions in general, Title I, school food service, travel and special education.

Another finding tied to disbursements applied only to the school breakfast and school lunch programs.

The auditor recommends that the board have proper controls over vendor disbursements to ensure the proper documentation is available and approved prior to payment and that charges align with school board policies and are properly recorded. The board agreed with both findings.

School activity fund disbursements

Disbursements for the Union Junior High and Union Parish Sixth Grade Center's school activity funds were tested. At the junior high, checks did not have the required number of signatures twice. At the Sixth Grade Center, 18 instances of checks not having enough signatures was noted, late fees were paid on invoices twice, and the check number printed on the check did not agree with the check number in the general ledger 21 times.

As a result, some disbursements were not in accordance with school board findings.

The accountant suggests that the business office provide training on the accounting requirements, and the board agreed with the finding.

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Public bid law

All public entities are required by Louisiana law to obtain three telephone or fax quotes and written confirmation of accepted offer for all purchases of materials and supplies costing $10,000 to $30,000. Louisiana revised statutes also require that all purchases of more than $30,000 be advertised and use a detailed sealed bid process.

The auditor found that a purchase of school buses did not meet public bid law.

"All proper procedures were followed regarding the bid specification, advertisement preparation, receiving of bids and bid opening documentation," the board responded. "There was a failure to have the advertisement published appropriately. This was due in part to an oversight to include this particular advertisement in a group of other legal notices for publication at the time. For all applicable purchases, a procedure will be established to insure that bid law is properly followed including the requirements regarding publication."

Additionally, there were two instances noted when quotes were not obtained for equipment purchases in accordance with bid law.

The board responded to both instances. In the first, the responsible manager opted to have a school bus dealer install air conditioners on new buses before taking delivery of the vehicles rather than bid out the air conditioning purchases.

"In the other instance noted, a service vehicle was purchased after getting three written quotes of similarly equipped vehicles," the board responded. "However, documentation of the quotes could not be located. For all applicable purchases, a procedure will be established to insure that quotes are properly obtained and documented in accordance with public bid law."

Suspension and debarment

According to the Code of Federal Regulations, non-federal entities cannot contract with or make sub-awards to parties that are suspended or disbarred with funds received through federal programs. This includes procurement contracts for goods or services equal to or more than $25,000.

The auditor found that the Special Education Cluster spent $25,000 or more with a vendor that was not vetted until after the contract was renewed. The auditor noted that the special education department should ensure every vendor is not suspended or debarred before entering a contract.

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Title I cash management

The Code of Federal Regulations requires that when a school district is funded on a reimbursement basis, costs must be paid for by the board before the reimbursements is requested from the government.

The auditor found that the board "requested more funds from the cost reimbursement program than they had expended during the year, causing an unearned revenue balance in the cost reimbursement program."

This caused the period expense report for the fourth quarter to report the incorrect expenditure amounts as of June 30. Also, one reimbursement request was not signed off as reviewed by the Title I supervisor.

The auditor suggests that the board create cost reimbursement requests and periodic expense reports from accurate, current accounting records. Reimbursement requests should only include payments that have been properly reviewed and paid for by the board.

The board agreed with the finding.

Breakfast and lunch program findings

In addition to the earlier noted finding tied to disbursements for the breakfast and lunch programs, two other findings tied to those programs.

The audit states, "The Child Nutrition Program is required to ensure that sufficient funds are provided to the school food service program from lunches served to students that are not determined to be eligible to receive free or reduced priced meals. A program currently charging less for a paid lunch than the difference between the federal reimbursement rate for such a lunch and that for a free lunch is required to comply. Compliance is documented by completing a calculation on a form provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

The auditor noted that because of a change in the program supervisor, the board was unsure if the calculation was complete. It was not, so compliance with requirements could not be ascertained.

The auditor recommends that the board establish procedures to ensure compliance, and the board agreed with the finding.

In the last finding, the year-end expense and income report showed understated expenses when compared to supporting documentation used to create the report.

The auditor recommended that the board implement review procedures to ensure the information in the year-end report is accurate and agrees with records. The board agreed with the finding.

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