Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to examine the vendor master file for the period July 1, 2015 through March 31, 2017.

Background

The Riverhead Central School District is located in the Towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton in Suffolk County. The District, which is governed by an elected seven-member Board of Education, operates seven schools with approximately 5,500 students. General fund budgeted appropriations for the 2016-17 fiscal year totaled approximately $130.7 million.

Key Findings

• District officials have not established written policies or procedures for maintaining the vendor master file.
• The District did not have any procedures in place to determine whether a vendor name is already included in the master file before creating a new entry and did not periodically review and update existing entries.
• The District did not have an IRS W-9 form (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) on file for all vendors.

Key Recommendations

• Develop and implement written procedures for maintaining the vendor master file.
• Review the vendor master file to identify duplicate vendors and deactivate any unnecessary accounts.
• Ensure that W-9s are obtained from all vendors.