Audit Objective
Did the Canisteo-Greenwood Central School District (District) Board of Education’s (Board) appointed claims auditor properly audit claims prior to payment?
Audit Period
July 1, 2023 – June 5, 2025
Understanding the Audit Area
The audit of claims is often the last line of defense for preventing unauthorized, improper or fraudulent claims from being paid. A board of education (board) must audit the claims against a school district before they are paid or appoint a claims auditor to assume the board’s powers and duties to audit and approve claims. A proper claims audit ensures all claims are subjected to an independent, thorough and deliberate review that, among other things, determines that the school district complied with its written policies, and that each purchase was for a proper school district purpose.
The District’s Board delegated its claims auditing duties to an appointed claims auditor who was responsible for examining and allowing or rejecting accounts, charges, claims or demands against the District.
The District’s 2024-25 budgeted appropriations totaled $29.2 million. During the audit period, the District processed 2,943 claims totaling $23.7 million.
Audit Summary
The claims auditor did not properly audit all claims prior to payment. As a result, there was an increased risk that improper or unsupported payments could have been made and not detected or corrected. Of the 2,943 claims totaling $23.7 million, we reviewed 202 claims1 totaling $1.4 million and determined that 105 claims (52 percent) totaling approximately $804,000 should not have been approved by the claims auditor for payment. These claims did not contain sufficient supporting documentation to allow the claims auditor to determine whether the claim was a valid legal obligation, a proper charge against the District, mathematically correct, or in compliance with the District’s procurement policies.
While we were able to determine that each of the 202 claims was for a proper District purpose, the Board had no assurance that claims approved by the claims auditor complied with its written policies, and that each purchase was for a proper District purpose.
The report includes three recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s claims audit 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 See Appendix C for more information on our sampling methodology.