Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic 

Auditor Pauly, Rogers and Co. gives an unmodified opinion of the school district's 2015-2016 budget

Continuing the quiet and stable period since Gwen Gardner was hired as finance director in 2013, the Newberg School District received a clean review of its 2015-2016 budget after an audit was performed by Pauly, Rogers and Co.

Certified public accountant (CPA) Tara Kamp presented the findings of the audit to the school board at its Dec. 13 meeting, with the accounting firm's major point being a favorable opinion of the district's financial statements.

The board voted unanimously to accept the audit.

"Overall excellent results for the Newberg School District," Kamp said. "In the audit opinion letter, we issued an unmodified opinion and that is a clean opinion with no reservations, which is exactly what you're going for."

Kamp also reported that the district is in "substantial compliance" with the state's minimum requirements for auditing municipal corporations.

In its review of federal awards — which includes examination the expenditure of federal awards, testing of the internal control system, compliance with both laws and regulation and specific mandates for awards — the accounting firm found no issues of non-compliance and no questioned costs.

The audit did not include a separate management letter and Kamp reported her firm encountered no difficulties in performing the audit and had no disagreements with management.

"Management letters arise if there are problems that you need to address at the level of the board," Kamp said. "Overall, the district was wonderful to work with and did a really good job with their financial reporting and accounting. Gwen did a great job leading the team."

The audit recommended examining the possibility of revising its annual actuarial study ahead of changes that will be made to state standards next year, specifically in regard to reporting certain health insurance costs.

In its review of best practices, which Kamp characterized as the accounting firm's advice column, Kamp again said the district was excellent overall, though the audit did cite three areas as "not significant deficiencies."

Kamp noted that the district already has some policies for financial monitoring and performs those functions, but the board should be sure to cite those policies when performing them and include that in any records. She said the firm is more than willing to work with the board on supplementing its policy with guidelines, checklists, questions and benchmarks.

The audit also advised the board to examine the level of fidelity insurance it carries in regard to its cash and investment balances because they sometimes exceed the coverage amount.