Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to determine if the District’s non-instructional employees received and used leave accruals in accordance with employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements for the period July 1, 2013 through November 30, 2014.

Background

The Bethpage Union Free School District is located in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County. The District, which is governed by an elected seven-member Board of Education, operates five schools with more than 2,900 students. Budgeted appropriations for payroll and associated employee benefits for 2014-15 totaled $62.7 million.

Key Findings

• The District did not have written procedures for maintaining leave accrual records or processing these payouts.
• At the beginning of each school year, the clerk performed a manual process to carry over each employees’ accrued leave balances based on the prior year’s ending balance from the financial software and credited each employee with the annual accruals based on the terms of the respective CBAs or individual employment agreements.

Key Recommendations

• Design and implement procedures to address maintaining accurate leave records and ensure there is proper oversight over leave benefits.
• Consider using the financial software’s capability to record sick leave accruals as earned and ensure the clerk records unused leave payouts as separate transactions rather than making changes to the previous amounts recorded.