Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to determine if the District properly calculated and adequately supported payroll-related payments and payments for goods and services for the period July 1, 2014 through October 25, 2016.

Background

The Rochester City School District is located in the City of Rochester, Monroe County. The District, which is governed by an elected seven-member Board of Education, operates 52 schools with approximately 29,700 students. Budgeted appropriations for the 2016-17 fiscal year total approximately $865 million.

Key Findings

• The District did not have written policies or procedures for the processing or monitoring of payroll payments.
• In our audit sample of payroll payments, we identified over $356,600 in incorrect or unsupported payments.
• Hundreds of staff routinely made purchases outside the normal requisition and purchase order process, through the use of District Procurement Cards (p-cards), significantly increasing the risk of unauthorized or overpriced purchases.
• We reviewed 515 p-card purchases and found deficiencies with 500 purchases.
• The District did not consistently comply with competitive bidding requirements for all applicable purchases made using the District’s regular purchase order process.

Key Recommendations

• Establish written procedures that designate specific responsibilities to the payroll department staff.
• Develop adequate monitoring procedures to verify that all payroll-related payments are accurate.
• Revise the policy for use of p-cards for District purchases and require strict adherence to the updated safeguards.
• Require all cardholders and supervisors to attend training on p-card procedures and on quote and bidding requirements after the policy for p-cards is revised.
• Award contracts consistent with District policy and procedures.