Audit finds one major error; district upbeat about software overhaul
The Manatee County School District’s financial management continues to improve, but it is not yet where it should be, auditors from Moore Stephens Lovelace told the district’s audit committee at a meeting on Wednesday.
“Overall we saw large improvement from 2015 to 2017,” said Daniel O’Keefe, a certified public accountant with the firm.
O’Keefe compared Manatee to the 29 other school districts in Florida that use an independent external auditing firm to review the books annually. Wolf said 24 of those 30 districts emerged from their audits with no significant financial deficiencies, which he said is the benchmark.
Manatee had one significant deficiency stemming from a misclassification on the district’s balance sheet, Wolf said. A $2.5 million payment had been attributed to fiscal year 2016, but it was cashed in fiscal year 2017.
“The expense was reported correctly,” said Tammy Taylor, the district’s director of finance and interim CFO. “The system posted the transaction as if the cash had left the district on June 30, but it didn’t transfer to the credit union until July 8.”
Longtime audit committee member Joe Blitzko questioned why the auditors chose to issue a significant deficiency for the error. The auditors said the misclassification did not impact the bottom line.
“If you take Manatee to where it was several years ago, there has absolutely been improvement, but the high-water mark is trying to get to the point where there is no comment at all,” O’Keefe said. “There is definitely improvement and Manatee is on the right path, but I think we would all like to get to the point where there are no comments.”
“Whether it’s $20 or $20 million, their systems should have caught it,” internal auditor Byron Shinn said. “That’s why they got written up.”
Deputy Superintendent Ron Ciranna said the overall audit results were outstanding and reflected the efforts of the finance department.
A massive overhaul of the district’s software system is entering its final stages, Shinn told the committee. The project will replace antiquated systems that have caused a bevy of problems, especially in the payroll department where staff has to manually enter changes. A glitch in the system last December prevented the district from reconciling its bank account for 11 months.
Shinn said as the district transitions from the manual system to an automated system, auditors would ramp up testing to ensure a smooth transition. Ciranna said the go-live date for the new system was July 1, and he doesn’t anticipate having to request more funding. The project has expanded in scope since its inception and was originally budgeted to cost roughly $10 million, but at this point has nearly doubled.