Audit Objective
Were Cuba-Rushford Central School District (District) cafeteria purchases for proper District purposes?
Audit Period
July 1, 2022 – January 17, 2025
Understanding the Program
The Superintendent of Schools (Superintendent) is the chief executive officer (CEO) and is responsible for the District’s day-to-day management under the District’s Board of Education’s (Board’s) direction. These duties include supervising the activities of the Cafeteria Manager (Manager) and the purchasing agent. While the Superintendent would supervise an appointed claims auditor from an administrative point of view, to keep the claims auditing function as independent as possible, the claims auditor should discuss the approval of specific claims with the Board.
The Manager is responsible for ordering food and supplies to provide meals and refreshments for students, sell a la carte items in the District’s two cafeterias, and cater meals and refreshments for allowable District meetings and events. The purchasing agent is responsible for confirming that each proposed purchase meets the requirements of the District’s Purchasing Policy1 before approving them for purchase. The claims auditor is responsible for confirming that each purchase conforms with the Purchasing Policy before approving them for final payment. Cafeteria food and supply purchases averaged approximately $257,000 each year and totaled approximately $542,000 during our audit period.
Audit Summary
Although the Superintendent knew that District policy prohibited District employees from using District-purchased assets for personal use, he directed the Manager to purchase food totaling approximately $1,300 for the Superintendent’s private personal event. Without the Superintendent’s involvement, the Manager also purchased food totaling $100 for a District teacher to serve at a different private non-District event. Both of these purchases were inappropriate and not for a proper District purpose.
While the Superintendent and other employee reimbursed the District for the purchases made, when District management and officials circumvent or override established District controls, the likelihood of improper transactions taking place without detection or reimbursement drastically increases and could potentially lead to taxpayers unknowingly funding employees’ personal purchases.
Other than the two purchases totaling $1,400 mentioned previously, we determined that the remaining 267 purchases totaling approximately $541,000 were for proper District purposes.
The report includes five recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s cafeteria purchasing process. District officials agreed with our recommendations and indicated that they have initiated corrective action.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the State Comptroller’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of the New York State General Municipal Law, Section 2116-a (3)(c) of the New York State Education Law and Section 170.12 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. The CAP should be posted on the District’s website for public review.
1 Refer to Appendix A for more information on the District’s Purchasing Policy.