FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
At their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, January 11, 2021, the Granville County Board of Education received the official financial audit for the 2019-2020 fiscal year from the firm of Anderson, Smith and Wike, PLLC. Partner Dale Smith, CPA, summarized the 72 page report to the Board, commenting, “these reports are the cleanest reports that a governmental entity can receive in an audit of its financial statement”. Board Chairman David Richardson responded to the audit results, stating, “The Board is very pleased with the results of this year’s audit. In striving to be transparent and accountable for the funds entrusted to us, this process affirms, yet again as in past years, that our finance staff and financial procedures are highly effective.”
Mr. Smith walked Board members through various highlights of the report, including an overview of the budget, as well as the status of fund balance, or the district’s savings or ‘rainy day’ fund. The total budget of governmental activities for the district during the 2019-2020 fiscal year was $92,121,104 and $4,528,733 for the enterprise funds. Regarding fund balance, Mr. Smith explained, “The total unassigned fund balance at June 30, 2020 was $5,887,425, which as a percentage of total governmental expenditures represents 7.12%.” Mr. Smith further explained the importance of the Board to continue monitoring the amount of fund balance budgeted to ensure the district remained in sound financial standing. He had previously noted that while there is no required threshold for the percentage of fund balance that a school district should maintain, other governmental entities such as towns, cities and municipalities use 8% as a general target for their fund balance.
Mr. Smith concluded his presentation by stating, “We audit over 50 districts across the state, and I wish all of our audits could be this clean.”
The Board uses a third party independent auditing firm to review financial records as a measure of accountability and certification as required by state law. This helps ensure that the district remains a good steward of taxpayer dollars. Superintendent McLean also commented on the audit, saying, “I am very proud to see the high quality work of our finance team and staff from across the district confirmed by this independent report. This is fundamental to our primary goal of educating students and I commend them for a job well done.”
Assistant Superintendent of Finance, Beth Day, commented, “I am very pleased with both the financial results and the testament to the hard work that so many people do throughout our district to maintain such a high level of financial management and integrity. This is a lot of hard work by a lot of people. I am very thankful and proud of that work.”
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