Fine Report Completes State Audit Process
A comprehensive examination of the Huntington School District’s financial books and practices by the Office of the State Comptroller concluded with the issuance of a clean audit following a process that began last November.
“We found the audit process to be very thorough and well thought out,” Superintendent John J. Finello said. State law requires the OSC to audit all New York school districts by 2010 and each district every five years thereafter. Huntington was informed about 15 months ago that it should expect auditors to begin working in the fall. The district was ready for the process and had all of its records in place and readily available.
“From late November 2008 thru early March 2009, a team of auditors was present in the district on almost a daily basis,” said David H. Grackin, assistant superintendent for finance and management services. “The auditors reviewed every aspect of the district’s financial operation including policy, payroll, purchasing, accounting, treasurer, fixed assets, extra classroom activity fund and human resources, as well as technology.”
Auditors not only studied the areas most people would expect, such as balance sheets, invoices, disbursements, bidding practices, separation payments and situations that have let to fraud in some districts. The state officials even requested to see hundreds of pieces of equipment purchased over the years in an effort to determine the efficacy of the district’s inventory control practices and whether or not the equipment was ever really purchased or even if it had been stolen.
“The auditors amassed thousands of pages of back up materials,” Mr. Grackin said. “During the course of their investigation we answered many questions and had numerous meetings about potential issues.”
The auditors set up shop in a large conference room in the district’s administration office complex. From that location they used their laptops and summoned materials that were put under a proverbial microscope.
“After all was said and done their audit comments were limited to one item; that is the assignment of permissions within the Finance Manager software package,” Mr. Grackin said. “As soon as they made these comments about the assignment of permissions, we implemented that corrective action immediately. We have also put in place measures to update the permissions that are assigned to staff members when there are personnel changes in the district.”
Indeed, the district was very proactive in the matter of computer access controls, resolving all aspects of the issue in February 2009, even before the auditors finished their work. The OSC sent the district a draft of the audit findings early this summer and the Huntington School Board formally approved a response to the audit, which incorporated the earlier implemented corrective action plan.
“The auditors were very professional in their dealings with us,” Mr. Grackin said. “I would also like to publicly thank both the business office and human resources staff for their cooperation in getting us an excellent report.”
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