Business of Education Series: CCSD Gets Clean Audit Report

Posted

By Andy Ann

On Tuesday, Jan. 17 the Colleton County School District (CCSD) and the board held a meeting in the board room located at 500 Forest Circle to discuss some of the business of education.

A representative from Mauldin & Jenkins Auditors was present at the meeting to give a report on the recent annual audit. The representative stated that the district received “clean opinion report” as of the audit completed June 2022, and that the management and board are to be congratulated. She stated that the best you can get is a “clean opinion” and there were no findings. She went on to say that not every district or government can say that they have achieved that.

The representative stated that the company is new to the district and that the company she represents is a large Southeast Regional firm with approximately 13 offices located in five states. The auditing company serves over 650 governments throughout the southeast, and about 80 are school districts. She explained it is the financial management’s responsibility to prepare the financial statements, close out the books and present them to the auditing firm to audit.

The auditor stated that when an “opinion” is given, it gives reasonable assurance. The report on the financial statements is called an “unmodified, clean opinion.” That means that the firm agrees that the financial statements are materially correct. The other report that they give is a “compliance opinion” and gives negative assurance on internal controls.

They also completed an audit on special areas of federal funding such as “Title One” and others. The auditor stated that there are certain things the district must comply with and certain things the district can do with those monies, so an additional audit of those monies was conducted.

CCSD received approximately 15.25 million dollars this year in federal money. The district received a clean opinion on those monies based on auditors’ findings in that area.

Another area assessed is called “Required Communications.” and basically states that financial management was cooperative and provided representation and they passed the assessments.

As of June 30, 2022, the district has shown an increase in revenue and a decrease in expenditures overall. She explained how overall, the results of the audit are to be commended, it shows financially the district has the strength to get through the leanest months of the year until the next wave of funding comes in.

The auditor presented a graph illustration via slides on the presentation to show a representation of where monies came from in the general fund. She stated that most of the revenue is from state and federal sources and a small portion of transfers from other sources. Regarding expenditures, about half is spent on direct instruction and half on support services.

More updates in the “Business of Education Series” will be provided in the next issue. For more information call 843-782-4510.

The next two board meetings are scheduled for Tuesdays on Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 located in the board room at 500 Forest Circle at 6 p.m.

The Press and Standard will be presenting an educational series with a weekly column breaking down each of the department reports. While helping provide the minutes of the meeting as a source of information for the community.