Finding No. 1:  Internal Audit Function

To enhance independence, Board policies should allow the District’s internal auditor to independently report instances of suspected fraud, abuse, and improper acts and expenditures to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Finding No. 2:  Audits of School Internal Accounts

The District should enhance procedures to ensure that the required annual audits of the District’s school internal accounts are completed and presented timely to the Board.

Finding No. 3:  Monitoring of Charter Schools

The District should enhance procedures to provide for timely monitoring and reviewing of the financial and insurance information required to be submitted by its charter schools.

Finding No. 4:  Agency Fund Transactions

Some Department operating activities were reported as agency funds in the financial statements, although the resources for these activities were not being held under custodial arrangements.  Accumulated resources for the accounts reviewed ranged from approximately $248,000 to $884,000 at June 30, 2003.

Finding No. 5:  Annual Facility Inspections

The District had not corrected many deficiencies cited during previous years’ annual facility safety inspections. Some deficiencies had been cited up to 12 previous times (years) and many involved fire violations.

Finding No. 6:  Capital Outlay – Day-Labor Project Inspections

District procedures for inspections of day-labor projects could be enhanced by documenting those instances in which inspections are determined not to be necessary.  Also, the District should consider the benefits of implementing an automated inspection tracking system.

 Finding No. 7:  Site Selection and Acquisition

The District could enhance policies and procedures for site selection and acquisitions of real property.

Finding No. 8:  Tangible Personal Property

The District should strengthen procedures to provide for complete annual physical inventories, timely and proper marking of property items as property of the District, and updating of property records to reflect an accurate listing of property items for current locations.

Finding No. 9:  Energy Savings Contracts

The District did not independently verify the energy savings representations made by energy conservation contractors and verified by project managers, whose positions are funded by the contractors.  Also, no written guidelines have been developed to establish the time frame for measuring and verifying significant contract items and the documentation necessary to evidence the project managers’ review process.

Finding No. 10:  Construction Change Orders – Consultant Errors

The District records did not evidence whether change orders ($1.8 million) identified as consultant errors were the result of consultants’ negligence which would be subject to reimbursement to the District.

Finding No. 11:  Construction Warranty Process

An automated warranty administration system was not in place to track and monitor project warranties.  Also, the District should develop written guidelines defining the duties of school/facility staff, project managers, Maintenance Department personnel, and contractors during the warranty process.

Finding No. 12:  Monitoring of Construction Managers

The District should enhance procedures to document the monitoring of the construction managers’ subcontractor selection.  The procedures should also provide for monitoring the verification of subcontractor licensure by the construction managers.

  Finding No. 13:  Strategic Planning

The District should improve its strategic plan to include projected costs and funding sources for the established goals and objectives and to correlate its budget to strategic plan goals and objectives.

Finding No. 14:  Florida School Recognition Program Expenditures

The District should enhance its procedures to ensure that Florida School Recognition Program funds are distributed in accordance with program requirements.

Finding No. 15:  Purchasing Practices

Procedures could be enhanced by rotating assignments for employees with buying responsibilities within the Purchasing Department.  Also, District records should document that purchases are made in accordance with applicable bid terms and conditions, at the lowest and best price, and consistent with product quality and performance, including those made from catalog discount bids.

Finding No. 16:  Verification of Work Experience

The verification of work experience was not documented for five employees in the Facilities and Construction Management Division.  Also, the District verified only 1.4 years of work experience for an employee whose position required five years of work experience.  In another instance, the verification of employment was made 15 months after the appointment date.

Finding No. 17:  Salary Overpayments

The District should strengthen procedures to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the payroll processing function and reduce the risk of future salary overpayments.

Finding No. 18:  Overtime Payment Monitoring

From July 2001 through June 2003, the District’s payroll application system was not able to generate reliable reports that would allow overtime payments to be summarized, compared, and analyzed.  Although some overtime reports have been generated effective July 2003, additional procedural enhancements should be made to control overtime payments.

The Superintendent's written response to the audit findings can be viewed in its entirety on the Auditor General's web site.