Cape school board to rotate auditors in wake of problems

The Cape Girardeau School Board adopted a policy Monday to seek a new auditing firm every three to five years. Interim superintendent Pat Fanger called the move an "appropriate practice" intended to increase accountability.

"I don't know how long we've used our current firm, but we have not switched in a long time," Fanger said.

Last fall, the firm Beussink, Hey, Roe, Seabaugh & Stroder LLC presented an audit that showed several significant, and in one case, multimillion dollar, problems. The same firm will conduct the audit again this year, and then in February the board will bid out for a new service.

The November audit reported payments of nearly $2.5 million being made but never recorded, the district spending more than was budgeted in two funds, and the district deficit budgeting, which is against state law.

In December, the district placed the director of finance on administrative leave, was forced to shift funds to cover a $700,000 calculation error and hired a firm to conduct an external audit. Board member Paul Nenninger said at the time he hoped the audit would help determine whether further action needed to be taken.

The board abruptly decided to cancel the audit, however, on Feb. 25. Laura Sparkman argued the board would not get the results expected because an auditor only looks at random entry samples. Others said the newly hired director of finance was doing a good job finding errors and making recommendations.

Afterward, the board president at the time, Dr. Steve Trautwein, admitted the board had discussed the audit in closed session Feb. 6, citing a provision of the Missouri Sunshine Law that states meetings can be closed when they pertain to "confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental body and its auditor, including all auditor work product." The provision was not listed on the agenda, however, as is required, and the auditor was not present at the meeting.

Diane Howard, the district's attorney, said the director of finance began the meeting outlining what the auditors intended to do and what would be accomplished by the audit. She said that several board members then began to question "whether the scope of the audit was going to be a good expenditure of the district's monies." Once the conversation shifted, she said the board decided to move the discussion to open session.

The Monday decision to rotate auditing firms was approved unanimously. Tony Smee, newly elected, said the move will allow the district to get a "fresh look at the books."

In other news, the school year will now end May 28, not May 30, the board decided. Last month, the board extended the year to May 30 to include bad weather days. But after reconsideration and conversations with the state department, "we realized we had not given ourselves enough credit for our earlier half days, and we had met the requirements to end earlier," Fanger said.

The board also adjusted the calendar for next school year to include specific dates for inclement weather days. Dates for a second round of parent-teacher conferences, in the spring, were also added.

lbavolek@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123