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Athens City Schools Given State Auditor Award
By: Athens Messenger staff reports
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Athens City Schools is now the three time recipient of two prestigious awards from the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office.
Athens City Schools Treasurer Matt Bunting was presented the Auditor of State Award with Distinction during Thursday evening’s board meeting at Morrison-Gordon Elementary School. This is the third consecutive year the district has received the award.
Eric Johnson, southeast liaison for the state auditor’s office, stated that the award is the most prestigious presented by the office. The award represents a clean audit in addition to the comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) which can be completed in addition to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
“While a school’s primary concern is its students, it must also remain accountable to taxpayers,” Auditor Dave Yost said. “Accurate record-keeping is clearly a priority for Athens City Schools, and I am proud to present this award to the district.”
Bunting, who has worked as the treasurer at Athens City Schools for 16 years, said the district has taken the steps to complete the CAFR beginning in 2000 and each year since. The CAFR includes a lot more detail and statistics then the Generally Accepted Accounting Principals which are also submitted as part of an audit.
The Auditor of State Award with Distinction is presented to local governments and school districts upon the completion of a financial audit. Entities that receive the award meet the following criteria of a “clean” audit report: The entity must file timely financial reports with the Auditor of State’s office in the form of a CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report); The audit report does not contain any findings for recovery, material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, single audit findings or questioned costs; The entity’s management letter contains no comments related to: Ethics referrals, questioned costs less than $10,000; lack of timely report submission; reconciliation; failure to obtain a timely Single Audit; findings for recovery less than $100; public meetings or public records.
Athens City Schools is also a three time recipient of the Make Your Tax Dollars Count Award, which was received in 2006, 2008, and 2009. The award was presented to entities that complete and submit a CAFR, have no findings or issues present in the audit report and have not other financial concerns involving the entity.