In a nutshell
According to district documents, Texas Education Code requires an audit of each Texas school district’s financial records following the close of each fiscal year. That audit must be performed by a Texas certified public accountant holding a permit from the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy.
“We’re in a school district, so everyone equates things to report cards, and this is an A,” said John Manning, a partner at Pattillo Brown & Hill LLP, the firm that conducted the audit.
The details
Manning went on to say his firm offered an “unmodified opinion,” which means they didn’t have to modify their opinion for errors or any big internal control departures the district had.
District documents state other key findings from the audit, including:
- No weaknesses in internal controls nor instances of noncompliance with grants and contracts were found.
- The district ended the fiscal year with a decrease to the general operating fund balance of $3 million and an ending fund balance of $46.6 million.
- The ending fund balance includes an assigned and unassigned fund balance of $39.97 million, which is 28.5% of operating expenditures and is above the fund balance policy of 20%.
- The district ended the fiscal year with a decrease to the debt service fund balance of $10.58 million and an ending fund balance of $61.81 million, which was used to make bond payments of $34.27 million in August.
Diving in deeper
District documents state the district received the Government Finance Officers Association and Association of School Business Officials Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting awards for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The district will submit the 2022-23 report to GFOA and ASBO again for consideration of the awards.
