THE POLICY
INTERNAL CONTROL FRAMEWORK: Internal controls are designed to limit the risk of financial reporting misstatement due to errors, theft and misappropriation of district assets. The control environment reflects the overall attitude, awareness, and action of the Board, Administration, and others concerning the importance of control and its emphasis in the District. The accounting system establishes a method to identify, assemble, analyze, classify, record, and report the District’s transactions and to maintain accountability for the related assets and liabilities. The District shall identify an accounting system to be used in all operations, and no other system should be used to track or record financial transactions or data. Using additional systems weakens the information in the accounting system, wastes resources, and is ineffective. Every effort has been made to establish policies and procedures that balance the effectiveness of controls with the costs associated with implementing them. Commitment to internal controls is necessary at all levels of the District in order for the controls to be effective.
Beaver County School District follows the internal control framework described in the GAO Auditing Standards (yellow book): The Internal Control--Integrated Framework published by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) provides guidance on internal control. As discussed in the COSO framework, internal control consists of five interrelated components, which are (1) control environment, (2) risk assessment, (3) control activities, (4) information and communication, and (5) monitoring. The objectives of internal control relate to (1) financial reporting, (2) operations, and (3) compliance. Safeguarding of assets is a subset of these objectives. Management designs internal control to provide reasonable assurance that unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of assets will be prevented or timely detected and corrected.
THE AUDIT COMMITTEE: The Audit Committee of the District is considered to be a critical element to the internal control framework of the District. The Board appoints those who are members of the audit committee. Normally, the committee is made up of 1) no more than two board members, 2) at least 2 board appointed financial/accounting specialists independent of management, and 3) the independent auditors of the District. When an audit committee is not available, the Board in its entirety shall serve as the District's audit committee along with the District's independent auditors and any other consultants that may be needed. The audit committee shall be separate from management, and management shall report and be accountable to the audit committee for the financial matters of the District consistent with R277-113. The audit/finance committee has the following responsibilities:
(1) ensuring that management properly develops and adheres to a sound system of internal controls consistent with the requirements of R277-113-5;
(2) receiving a report of the risk assessment process undertaken by management in developing the system of internal controls;
(3) developing a process to review financial information, financial statements, and District and individual school records on a regular basis;
(4) ensuring that management conducts a competitive RFP process to hire external auditors and other professional services and making a recommendation to the District board on the results of the RFP process consistent with the State Procurement Code;
(5) receiving communication from or meeting with the external auditors annually and receiving a direct report of the audit findings, exceptions, and other matters noted by the auditor;
(6) reporting the annual audit reports and findings or other matters communicated by the external auditor or other regulatory bodies to the Board board in a public meeting;
(7) ensuring that matters reported by external audits, internal audits, or other regulatory bodies are resolved in a timely manner.