WBCSD audit moves forward

PRIEST RIVER — The West Bonner County School District's forensic audit is moving forward.

Brandon Waldren, a senior manager at Eide Bailly, which is conducting the audit for WBCSD, outlined the various worksheets encompassing the overall review of the district's finances.

Waldren presented three worksheets, which outline vendors who have done business with the district, what services they provide, and how much was spent among other information.

On several of the checks, there were no associated images, preventing auditors from cross-checking the vendor and amount spent. Waldren asked the board and district staff to review the discrepancies and confirm the checks were for the associated vendor and for the amount listed in financial documents.

He also asked the board and district officials to review the list of vendors and the services provided as well as to ask the district's bank for images of the checks for which it just has the check number and amount.

Also on the "to do" list is reviewing vendors associated with charges on the district's credit cards.

Waldren said the goal is to review vendor names and transactions, and to see if there's anything that doesn't make sense or seems out of line.

"See if there's anything that doesn't make sense or makes you ask 'I have no clue why we spent this money with this vendor,'" he told the board. "Try to see if there's anything that generates any odd emotions with these vendors."

That information, along with supporting documentation from the vendors, would be used by the firm to document expenses.

If necessary, the district should conduct interviews to gain more information if the support documentation is either absent or is poor documentation, Waldren advised the board.

"Let's say I was doing a forensic audit in the LA area in California and I saw Disneyland on there," Waldren said. "That might be a legitimate field trip and I might expect that to be on there. But maybe, for you guys, you might see Disneyland on there and ask, 'Is that OK?'"

District officials said it appears that a portion of the problem is due to a change in banks and changes to administrative staff. That led to some of the images for the canceled checks not being available, and is something the district is working on.

Of the checks identified by Eide Bailly, the district has already contacted its new bank, Umpqua Bank, to see information or supporting images in about 40 of them.

"[Getting the information] is doable for most of them," Kendra Salesky, who does payroll and accounts payable for the district, said. "We're probably going to have one or two that we might have an issue with [in tracking down the information.]"

District officials said the numbering methods between the district's former bank and its current bank are different. That also is likely causing confusion and is something they are addressing to ensure all information matches up and can be verified.

The board approved a motion to have the auditors move forward to verify the missing check images. It also approved a motion directing trustees and district officials to review the vendor lists to see if there is anything they can "weed out."

In its contract with Eide Bailly, the district budgeted $10,000 for the first phase of the forensic audit, $20,000 for the second and $10,000 for the third. However, Waldren said of issues with the first phase in getting needed documents from the bank, that cost was closer to $15,000. However, he said the firm still expects to finish its work close to the total projected amount of $40,000.