After interviewing the business manager, I believe I have a much clearer understanding of the purposes and the process of completing the Annual External Audit. Having an outside auditor examine the district’s financial operations is a very important yearly necessity. An outside person can often see things that may be overlooked by district personnel who are too closely involved in the day to day finances of the district. The process is fairly straightforward. The district selects an external auditor following a request for proposals (bids) by the district. The school board evaluates the proposals and selects a firm to complete the audit. (Usually, we receive proposals from 2-3 firms.) Once selected, the auditor will notify the district to schedule an onsite visit and send a list of any documents that he may need in advance or that the district must have available when he arrives. The onsite visit takes 1-2 days in our district and the auditor will occasionally call with follow-up questions or requests for additional materials. The conclusions of the auditor will hopefully be an unqualified opinion which indicates that the district’s operations and procedures are in order. Regardless of the financial situation in the district, this is an important conclusion of the audit. Finally, the auditor prepares a written report to be presented to the school board. The audit report is presented in a public meeting before the board, published in the local newspaper, and sent to TEA.
Reflection – I was present at the board meeting at which the External Audit Report was presented in our district. I found the material to be very comprehensive and the auditor very thorough. The presentation was interesting and our district received an unqualified opinion. The interview with the business manager helped me to truly understand the implications of the report and I was better able to see how all of the details in the report were relevant. Overall, I found the activity very helpful.
Rick,
ReplyDeleteI have also been present at board meetings when the auditors share the results of their finds and give out our district rating. I enjoyed reading your districts approach to the audit process.