Audit Objective

Determine whether Brighter Choice Charter School for Girls (School) Board of Trustees (Board) and officials ensured non-payroll disbursements (disbursements) were adequately supported, properly approved, accounted for, and for a School-related purpose.

Key Findings

The Board and officials did not provide adequate oversight to ensure disbursements were adequately supported, properly approved, accounted for and for a School-related purpose. Without adequate oversight, the Board and officials cannot ensure that all disbursements were made as authorized or for an appropriate School purpose.

The Board and officials did not implement adequate disbursement procedures. Specifically:

• The Director did not prepare and provide the Principal with an abstract of invoices or a list of checks to document the review and approval.
• The Principal or other designated official did not review cancelled check images to ensure only approved disbursements were made.
• The Board did not require a detailed monthly disbursement report.

Despite a lack of disbursement review and approvals, the 70 disbursements totaling $798,770 that we reviewed were adequately supported, accounted for and for a School purpose.

Key Recommendations

• Prepare an abstract of invoices and checks to be signed by the Principal.
• Review cancelled check images to ensure only authorized disbursements are made.
• Provide abstracts and bank statements to the Board monthly.

School officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.