Audit Objective
Did Beekmantown Central School District (District) officials develop and manage a comprehensive investment program?
Audit Period
July 1, 2024 – February 28, 2026
Understanding the Audit Area
A comprehensive investment program helps ensure that officials operate within the statutory framework established for school districts and creates a clear structure for managing investments and improving oversight and accountability. A comprehensive investment program includes a written investment policy that provides officials with a tool to manage finances more effectively and helps ensure that funds are not only safe but also available when needed. This structured approach can help officials optimize how funds are managed, potentially leading to the availability of more resources for school district operations.
During the audit period, the District had approximately $24.9 million in available operating and reserve funds to invest each month. Operating and reserve funds were deposited in 13 accounts at a financial institution and one account in a cooperative municipal investment fund (investment fund).
Audit Summary
We determined that the District’s investments were legal, safe and liquid. However, District officials did not develop and manage a comprehensive investment program. For example, during the audit period, officials did not prepare any cash flow forecasts to estimate funds available for investment or solicit interest rate quotes from financial institutions. As a result, officials missed an opportunity for the District to realize additional revenues which would benefit District operations and potentially reduce the financial burden on District taxpayers.
During the 20-month audit period, the District invested reserve funds averaging approximately $9 million each month, in eight savings accounts and one investment account, and earned $633,658 in investment earnings. However, during the audit period, the District earned $34,046 in investment earnings on the District’s operating and reserve funds that were deposited in five checking accounts, despite having an average of $15.9 million available in these accounts to invest each month. Had officials considered investing these funds in the same savings or investment accounts already used by the District, which offered higher interest rates, the District may have earned more than $1 million in additional investment earnings.
This report includes two recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s investment practices. District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated, or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.
This audit was conducted pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC’s) authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law (GML). The audit’s methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
The Board of Education (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 OSC within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of GML, 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 the CAP, please refer to the OSC brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which was provided with the draft audit report. The CAP should be posted on the District’s website for public review.