Audit of Boca Raton Middle School's Community School Program November 12,2004 Report 2004-15
MISSIONSTATEMENT The School Board of Palm Beach County is committed to excellence in education and preparation of all our students with the knowledge, skills, and ethics required for responsible citizenship and productive employment. Arthur C. Johnson, Ph.D. * Superintendent of Schools School Board Members Tom Lynch, Chair William C. Graham Vice Chair* Paulette Burdick* Monroe Benaim, M.D. Mark Hansen Sandra Richmond Debra Robinson, M.D. Audit Committee Members Cindy Adair, Chair Richard Roberts, Vice Chair Georgette B. Carroll Max Davis Kevin James Noah Silver Arthur Sinai JulieAnn Rico Allison* Pam Popaca* *Ex-Officio Audit Committee Members
Audit of Boca Raton Middle School's Community School Program Table of Contents Page PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY 1 SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY 1 BACKGROUND 2 CONCLUSIONS 2 1. Monies Unaccounted For 2 2. Software Program 3 APPENDICES - Management's Response A. Boca Raton Middle School 5 B. Department ofinstructional Support 6
THE SCHOOlDISTRICT OF PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA OFFICEOF DISTRICTAUDITOR 3346 FOREST HILLBOUlEVARD, SUITE 8-302.WEST PALM BEACH, Fl33406 LUNG CHIU, CPA DISTRICT AUDITOR ARTHUR C. JOHNSON, Ph.D. SUPERINTENDENT (561) 434-7335 FAX: (561) 434-8652.. MEMORANDUM To: From: Honorable Chair and Members ofthe School Board Arthur C. Johnson, Ph.D., Superintendent ofschools Chair and Members ofthe Audit Committee. }<r...v Lung Chm, CPA, District Auditor Date: November 12, 2004 Subject: Audit ofboca Raton Middle School's Community School Program. PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY Pursuant to the School District's Audit Plan of2003-2004 and in response to the request ofthe school pril!-cipa1~ we have audited the Community School programs at Boca Raton Middle SchooL ~y primary objectives ofthe audit were to: 1) Determine the extent ofthe monies missing from the Community School programs at the school 2) Evaluate the adequacy ofthe newly implemented control procedures. SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY The audit was performed in accordance with Government Auditing Standards bytoni Waterman, CPA, during February 2004. The audit included: ~ Review ofrelated General Ledger records fdr the community school programs. Review ofschool Board Policies, District Directives, Department ofeducation's Rules, and Community Education Procedures Manual Interview staffwith the school 1. AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Draft findings were sent to the principal for review and comments. The response is included in the Appendix. We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by staff during the audit. The final draft report was presented to the Audit Committee at its November 12,2004, meeting. BACKGROUND On February 5,2004, the principal of Boca Raton Middle School informed our office that four Monies Collected Reports (MCR), together with the monies and checks collected from the community school programs, were missing. The missing monies instance was noted when a student inquired as to why a check written by her had not cleared the bank after four months. After the inquiry, it was determined that monies and checks with four MCRs were missing. Subsequently, the principal has since instituted several control procedures: I) The drop safe combination has been changed 2) Only the Principal has the full combination to open the safe 3) A gate was installed to enclose the drop safe and is locked each day at 4:00 pm; only the principal and assistant principal for Community School have keys 4) No monies will be left in office overnight 5) The assistant principal for Community School must verify deposit tickets prepared by secretary 6) A verification slip must be dated and signed by the assistant principal and secretary ofadult and Community Education, and placed in deposit bag 7) Both the assistant principal and the secretary must be present to deposit bag in the drop safe 8) A copy ofthe signed verification slip will go to bookkeeper to notify her of a pending deposit. These procedures appeared adequate to safeguard the cash. CONCLUSIONS The audit produced the following major conclusions: 1. Monies Unaccounted For. $3,529 included in four Monies Collected Reports (MCR) were unaccounted for. Please see the following exhibit. Date ofmcrs Cash Missing Check Missing Total Missing 11118/2003 $220 $140 $360 01/0712004 238 238 01/0812003 479 01/21/2004 1,866 Total $2,006 2
On February 12,2004, the school reported the missing monies instance to School Police. After the investigation, the Police Report concluded that "The investigation found that the four deposits in question were stolen. The lax procedures and security measures, which were in place at the time allowed individuals access to the bookkeepers office and safe. The School Principal and the Community School Assistant Principal have initiated new procedures and security measures that should prevent this from reoccurring and assure accountability. This case will be classified inactive pendingfurther investigative leads. This file will be forwarded to the School District Office ofprofessional [Standards] for administrative review. " As concluded by the Office ofprofessional Standards, "The Community School secretary has retired and is no longer an employee. Therefore, administrative discipline against her is not possible. The School Treasurer will be issued a verbal reprimand with written notation for her failure to safe guard the fonds generally.... [W]hUe there may have been a theft offunds, neither ofthe above persons nor any other individual could be identified as a suspect. Also the Principal has since instituted significant procedural safeguards to prevent any recurrence. " A Payment Request Letter was sent to those students who paid for their classes by check but the checks have not been cashed. A total of $1,300 was resubmitted to the school. Principal's Response: All practices that are outlined in the audit are beingfollowed and as ofthis date there have been no reported problems. (Please see page 5.) 2. Software Program. Twenty-five schools in the District, including the Adult Education Center, offer community education during school year 2003-04. According to staff, most community schools in the District were using the Community Ed Administrator 1999 (CAE99) software to maintain their fmancial and program information. CAE99 was a shareware developed by the assistant principal for Community Education at West Boca Community High School. There were six to eight different versions of CAE99 available for schools to use free-of-charge. Our review ofboca Raton Middle School's records revealed that the CAE99 software: Allows the use of0's and duplicate receipt numbers for recording cash receipts. Generates inconsistent information in certain summary reports. For example, a copy of receipt (#348292) indicated that check #8835 for $9 was received on November 14,2003, however, the Payments and Receipts Report generated on February 11,2004, indicated that receipt #348292 was issued for the receipt ofcheck #8839 for $15. Since the software program could generate and maintain inconsistent information for transactions, there is no assurance that the reports can be relied on. Additionally, as indicated in prior years' audit reports prepared by the District's external auditors: (1) the reliabilities and quality ofthe reports generated by the software varies by version, and (2) some schools 3
were using the software program, some schools were using Microsoft Excel to record courses and fees, and others were maintaining the information manually. The Department ofinstructional Support should (1) evaluate the current software in use and ensure that the software maintains accurate information, (2) implement a standardized system for all community schools. Department ofinstructional Support's Response: CAE99 is a freeware program developed by Mr. Allen Rice, the assistant principal for Community Education at West Boca Community High School. This freeware program was developed to assist his counterparts at other community schools with their registration process. It has never been officially adopted by the District nor supported by the District. The Office ofadult and Community Education has spent four years searching for a suitable replacementfor the TERMS WDIS system and the CAE99 system. We have not been able to find a single product that would meet the requirements ofwdis (Adult Education and state funding) and community educationfee supported classes (CAE99). Mr. Rice will be retiring in a couple ofyears. He has currently re-written the CAE99 software in Microsoft Access, which is a District standard database. When Mr. Rice has finished his testing ofthe new version ofcae99, we will ask the Audit Department to help us test the software and to make suggestions for changes to the software. After the changes are made, we will work with the ITDepartment to deploy the new CAE99 into each community school office, so that everyone is running the same software. We will also continue to work with the ITDepartment to evaluate possible replacement software programs. - End ofreport 4
Appendix A Management's Response Boca Raton Middle School Boca Raton Middle School Memo To: Lung Chiu. CPA. District Auditor From: Peter B. Licata ~ 1~]JW~rm SEr 30 200~~ Date: September 21. 2004 DISTRICT!\UDfTOR Re: Audit of Community School Program Thank you for your assistance in this matter. All practices that are outlined in your memo are being followed and as of this date there have been no reported problems. If you need any further assistance or have any questions. please let me know. 5
AppendixB Management's Response Department ofinstructional Support THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PALM BEACH COUNIY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT 3300 FOREST HILL BOULEVARD, C-206 WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33406-5813 ARTHUR C. JOHNSON, Ph.D. SUPERINTENDENT (561) 434-8712 FAX (561) 434-8908 MEMORANDUM DISTRICT AUDITOR TO: FROM: Lung Chiu, CPA, District Auditor Roger Peiser, Manager Adult and comm~ucation DATE: September 21,2004 SUBJECT: Audit of Community School Program at Boca Raton Middle School Thank you for providing us with your preliminary audit findings of this program. The Office of Adult and Community Education was asked to respond to finding Two, the software program used by the community school. The software program known as CAE99 (Community Ed Administrator 1999) is a freeware program developed by Allen Rice, Assistant Principal for Community Education at West Boca Community High School. This freeware program was developed to assist his counterparts at other community schools with their registration process. It has never been officially adopted by the District nor supported by the District. Each community school has decided if they will use this software or something else. Over the years, several different versions of the program were developed as the computer operating system(s) changed and as printers changed. The "development" and "support" ofthis software was done by Mr. Rice on avolunteer basis as time permitted. The present versions of the program were written in a compiler language similar to PASCAL. Mr. Rice will be retiring in a couple of years. He has currently re-written this software in Microsoft Access, which is a District standard database. He re-wrote the software in Access so that when he retires, the District would be in a position to support the software. He will provide the District with the source code in an uncompiled version. He is beta testing his software during the Fall 2004 community school term and will be ready to deploy his updated software with the Winter 2004 community school term. The Office of Adult and Community Education has spent four years searching for a suitable replacement for the TERMS WDIS system and the CAE99 system. We have interviewed several companies and worked with the District's Information Technology (IT) Department to explore different products. We have also been waiting for a decision on the replacement system for TERMS to see if there is a product from the chosen vendor that would be appropriate to use. We have not been able to find a single product that 6
AppendixB Management's Response Department ofinstructional Support would meet the requirements of WDIS (Adult Education and state funding) and community education fee supported classes (CAE99). When Mr. Rice has finished his testing of the new version of CAE99, we will ask the Audit Department to help us test the software and to make suggestions for changes to the software. After the changes are made, we will work with the IT Department to deploy the new CAE99 into each community school office, so that everyone is running the same software. The new version of the software will generate laser printed receipts, which means the receipts will not be pre-printed and therefore pre-numbered. The software will generate the receipt numbers. We will also continue to work with the IT Department to evaluate possible replacement software programs. RP:pc 7