State auditors found a few things wrong with the way the Ridgefield School District handles its finances, though no fines were issued.
In a report released last week, the Washington State Auditor’s Office found the district didn’t have proper protocols in its financial statement preparation and its verification and reporting for a federal nutrition grant during the 2013-2014 school year.
“We have embraced the recommendations of the state auditor’s office and have made sure we have addressed their concerns,” Superintendent Nathan McCann said. “We take that very seriously and want to do this well.”
Auditors faulted the district for essentially not balancing its checkbook properly. In one case, capital expenditures were written in the wrong year, overstating a fund balance by nearly $3 million.
“The district experienced significant turnover in staff responsible for financial reporting over the last several years,” school officials wrote in the formal response to the auditor’s report. “The district believes this contributed to many of the conditions noted by the auditor’s office in the finding.”
The district said it thoroughly reconciled its balances, which were over- or understated in several cases.
“All concerns identified by both the auditor’s office and through the reconciliation process were corrected in the final financial statements,” the district wrote.
For the federal nutrition grant, auditors wrote the district “may have received funding for households that did not qualify for free and reduced-price meals” as a result of improper accounting.
In its response, the district said additional monitoring, hiring and training has occurred and the problem has been addressed as of June.
“We’ve worked really hard over the past six months to enhance and improve internal controls and follow the state’s (manual),” McCann said. “I think we’ve done a really good job.”
The auditor’s office will review the school district’s actions during its next regular audit.
