Gazette: Audit of Montgomery County schools activity funds reveals inconsistencies

Failure to follow accounting guidelines for events highlighted in internal report
School News | Andrew Ujifusa

The school system's procedures for spending and keeping tabs on the money in activity funds were not always followed during the previous fiscal year, an audit of the funds at Montgomery County Public Schools revealed....

...In fiscal 2010, the schools collected just over $32 million for their activity funds and spent just under $31.7 million. Unused revenues from the funds are collected in an interest-bearing Centralized Investment Fund or are stored in individual school accounts if the school chooses to, said Board of Education member Phil Kauffman (At large) of Olney.

Walt Whitman High in Bethesda collected $1.47 million for its activity fund in fiscal 2010, the largest amount of any public school in the county. But in a report from Roger W. Pisha, internal auditor supervisor for the school system, a variety of problems were described in the audit of 82 schools, including 41 secondary schools....

...The greatest disparity between expenses and receipts was at Montgomery Blair High school, which listed $1.02 million in disbursements and only $828,000 in receipts. Kauffman said his understanding was that Blair took out a loan from the Centralized Investment Fund before fiscal 2010 and is now paying it back.

During a Monday meeting of the Board of Education's Fiscal Management Committee, Kauffman, one of its members, stressed that the problems identified in the report are not new.

"How do we get to the point where we're fixing these things?" he asked.

Officials stressed the importance of business managers continuously educating school staff about accounting procedures for activity funds. Pisha's report's recommendations also include hiring two additional internal auditors "when financial conditions become more favorable." The school system's Internal Audit Unit has not added a full-time position since 1990.

School board officials also discussed making the audit reports more broadly available.

"Folks always are asking for and wanting this info," said school board Vice President Christopher S. Barclay (Dist. 4) of Takoma Park, the committee's chairman.

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Read the School Audits compiled and made public by the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County at our website or click the links below:

BCC HS May 2009	Kennedy HS Dec 2009	Seneca Valley HS Dec 2009 Seneca Valley HS Jan 2009
BCC HS March 2008	Kennedy HS Aug 2008	Seneca Valley HS May 2008
Blair HS April 2009	Magruder HS June 2009
Blair HS Sept 2007	Magruder HS Jan 2008	Sherwood HS April 2010 Sherwood HS Dec 2008
Blair HS March 2007	Magruder HS Oct 2006	Sherwood HS July 2007
	Magruder HS Sept 2005
Blake HS April 2009	Magruder HS May 2004	Springbrook HS Oct 2008
Blake HS Nov 2007	Northwest HS Aug 2009
	Northwest HS May 2008	Watkins Mill HS June 2009
Churchill HS July 2009		Watkins Mill HS Jan 2008
Churchill HS April 2008
Churchill HS March 2007	Northwood HS May 2009	Walter Johnson HS Nov 2009
Clarksburg HS Oct 2009	Northwood HS Sept 2007	Walter Johnson HS Sept 2008
Clarksburg HS June 2008	Paint Branch HS June 2009
	Paint Branch HS March 2008	Wheaton HS June 2009
		Wheaton HS Nov 2007
Damascus HS Jan 2009	Poolesville HS Oct 2008
	Poolesville HS Nov 2007
Edison HS Sept 2009		Whitman HS April 2009
Edison HS Nov 2007	Quince Orchard HS May 2009	Whitman HS April 2007
	Quince Orchard HS Jan 2008
	Richard Mont HS Nov 2009
Einstein HS April 2009	Richard Mont HS July 2008
Einstein HS Sept 2007	Richard Mont HS March 2007
		Wootton HS Nov 2007
Gaithersburg HS Sept 2009	Rockville HS June 2009	Wootton HS June 2009
Gaithersburg HS June 2008	Rockville HS Dec 2007

Hoover MS Sept 2008	Julius West MS Nov 2008	Montgomery Village MS Oct 2007
Cabin John MS June 2009	White Oak MS Nov 2008	Pyle MS Sept 2008
	Westland MS June 2009	Wood MS Oct 2009
Daly ES Jan 2008	Flower Hill ES Feb 2006	Glenhaven ES May 2007 Westbrook ES March 2009 Westbrook ES Oct 2005

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