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Audit Objective

Determine whether complete, accurate and timely accounting records and reports were maintained to allow Tupper Lake Central School District (District) officials to effectively manage the District’s financial operations and capital projects.

Key Findings

District officials did not maintain complete, accurate and timely accounting records and reports to allow officials to effectively manage financial operations and capital projects, and Board oversight was lacking. Officials did not:

• Provide support for 12 of the 15 balance sheet accounts we reviewed. Also, officials did not record journal entries in a timely manner. Only four of the 349 journal entries for 2018-19 and only 60 of the 292 journal entries for 2019-20 were recorded during each year.
• Properly account for and close completed capital projects. As a result, $359,427 in unexpended funds were not used to pay related debt, which could have reduced the District’s tax levies, and $480,853 in project expenditures were not submitted for timely reimbursement.
• Submit the 2016-17 through 2019-20 ST-3 annual financial reports (AFRs), State aid claim forms and independent audit reports in a timely manner, delaying scheduled State aid payments ranging from $49,607 to $345,221.

Key Recommendations

• Maintain complete, accurate, and timely accounting records and close completed capital projects.
• Prepare and submit timely financial reports.

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.