By:Hector Flores
The firm, which has worked for the district for the past 20 years, said Bellmore is on a sound financial footing and is an example for others to follow.
As an auditing firm, we review documents and check for fraud, said Russ Vail, a partner in the firm. One way of doing this is by looking for checks that are written under one name and recorded in another. It is our opinion that check fraud could not happen in this district because the controls in place are very strong and are of the highest quality.
Vail added that when the state comptroller visits the district in three years, it will not have a problem with the state-s inspection.
The auditor-s remarks came during last week-s board meeting at the district administration building on Winthrop Avenue. Sheldon Dumain, superintendent of the Bellmore School District, was pleased with the auditor-s findings and explained that the annual audit reviews all financial reports, monthly statements, student activity and credit-card accounts.
In addition, the audit makes sure that:
n District expenditures stay within budget;
n Expenditures are legitimate and accurate;
n School bids are in accordance with state requirements. If there are no bids, the district must make purchases from the state or county;
n The right vendors receive money for services or supplies;
n All the correct signatures are found in the purchase orders and payments.
All annual audits must be sent to the state department and comptroller-s office by Oct. 1 of each year, added Dumain.
But Bellmore resident Diane Zaslow was unimpressed with the audit-s findings. I can-t believe that the auditor does not have a biased opinion, considering that he works for the district, she said. In the Roslyn County School District, there were auditors also, and they were fired because the audits were not taken care off.
District safeguards
At the board-s August meeting, Dumain gave a review of the board-s safe guards used to prevent the misuse of funds.
The system begins with the budget and a purchase order. Any time a school needs to buy supplies, a purchase order is written by the building-s principal. The P.O. is then sent to the assistant superintendent, who makes sure that the supplies are really needed.
To save money, the assistant superintendent checks whether these supplies can be found at another school. If the superintendent cannot find the materials in the district, the purchase order is sent to the board-s business official, who determines whether the money needed for the materials is in the district-s budget.
Once these steps are complete, the purchase order is signed by at least three people: the principal, the assistant superintendent and the business official. The purchase order is then sent to the board-s vendor list.
When the materials have been brought to the school-s principal, he or she checks the items. The purchase list is then sent to the business official, who must also approve the items. Once they have been checked by the principal and business official, the purchasing department cuts a check.
The system ensures that the purchase order is used only once, and that the money spent on materials will not be spent again. In addition to the above safeguards, the board-s Purchasing Committee reviews every order, bill and payroll check.
When the committee conducts reviews, it must have a list of questions for every reviewed item. For example, if members aren-t satisfied with the answers to questions about a reviewed check, the purchase order or bill is set aside and examined again. During a review, committee members look for purchase orders that match a bill.
Dumain said such safeguards are possible because the district is so small.
In addition to its own internal safeguards, the district has two more budget defenses, in the form of audits. The first audit reviews payroll, and its goal is to make sure that checks go to the right people. The second audit reviews the district-s fiscal year, and is usually complete by mid-August.
