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Audit Objective

Did Seaford Union Free School District (District) officials maintain complete and accurate capital asset records?

Audit Period

July 01, 2021 – May 31, 2023.

We extended the audit period to July 17, 2023 to review the District’s most recent inventory list.

Understanding the Audit Area

A capital asset is generally defined as an asset that has a useful life of more than one year. It can include everything from furniture, vehicles, equipment and machinery to buildings and land. School districts (districts) also purchase a wide variety of information technology (IT) capital assets, such as interactive displays and desktop computers, as well as highly portable items, such as monitors, laptops and tablets. Consequently, capital assets represent a significant investment of district resources. Detailed records help to establish accountability and provide district officials with the information needed to develop controls and safeguards, such as establishing additional policies and procedures. As of July 17, 2023, the District’s inventory list of capital assets included 7,788 assets at a total cost of $65.2 million, including 5,960 IT assets at a total cost of $6.7 million.

Audit Summary

District officials did not maintain complete and accurate capital asset records. We determined that, while assets totaling $1.7 million were inventoried, the District’s inventory records lacked sufficient detail to account for and safeguard the assets. Assets totaling $196,089 were not inventoried, and assets totaling $42,314 were missing and could not be located. As a result, officials and taxpayers lack assurance that all assets that should be in the District’s possession are within the District and that assets are properly accounted for and safeguarded against loss, misuse or theft.

• The inventory list did not include all necessary information to locate and identify assets. For example, 358 IT assets on the inventory list totaling $1.7 million did not have a serial number. Additionally, 280 assets totaling $630,009 (including 186 IT assets totaling $200,705) did not have the current location recorded on the inventory list.
• 23 assets purchased during the audit period costing a total of $107,854 were not recorded on the District’s inventory list. For example, two servers totaling $81,757, one tuba totaling $4,070 and one whiteboard totaling $604 were not recorded. Furthermore, we attempted to locate 28 new assets purchased costing $76,082 that were on the inventory list, and District officials could not locate four assets totaling $3,604, including three iPads and a laminator.
• 22 graphics cards¹ and 20 computers purchased during the audit period costing a total of $35,393 were not recorded on the District’s inventory list. We located the 20 computers with District officials, and determined that 15 graphics cards were returned to the vendor and three graphics cards totaling $2,135 could not be returned because they were in opened boxes. The remaining four graphics cards were either located later by District officials or reimbursed to the District by the vendor.
• 27 assets on the inventory list totaling $38,710 could not be traced to the location recorded on the inventory list or located by District officials, including a point-of-sale register totaling $14,297, a network switch totaling $4,948, a bookcase totaling $1,498 and a ProBook laptop totaling $822.
• We located 208 monitors totaling $18,096 stored in the high school basement and middle school IT office that were not recorded on the District’s inventory list as required by District policy. District officials advised that the computers were part of two bulk purchases of 600 monitors totaling $52,200, and while we were advised the remaining 392 monitors were distributed throughout the District, they were also not included on the inventory list.
• Although the Board of Education (Board) approved 20 IT assets for disposal, five of the assets, including three laptops and two iPads, were not properly updated as disposed of on the inventory list and were recorded as active assets. Additionally, one asset (a tablet) with an estimated cost of $642² was not recorded on the inventory list. Lastly, 15 of these IT assets, including 11 laptops, one printer, one smartboard, one server and a desktop computer, could not be traced to the E-waste company’s receiving report, meaning officials did not ensure the E-waste company received and properly sanitized and disposed of these assets. 

Because District officials did not maintain complete and accurate inventory records, the District had an increased risk that its assets could be lost, stolen or misused. Without adequate records to confirm that assets were disposed of and properly sanitized by the E-waste company, officials cannot ensure that District assets were properly disposed of.

The report includes eight recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s ability to maintain complete and accurate capital asset records. District officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings but indicated they plan to initiate corrective action. Appendix C includes our comments on the District’s response.

We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC) authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix D.

1 A graphics card is a computer component that renders images, videos and animations on a computer screen.

2 We estimated the cost of this asset based on the cost of the same asset with similar serial numbers that were recorded on the inventory list.