Report 2021-108 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2021-108: Bellflower Unified School District: Has Not Used Its Significant Financial Resources to Fully Address Student Needs (Release Date: June 2022)

Recommendation #3 To: Bellflower Unified School District

To increase transparency, the board should, by August 2022, adopt a policy for Bellflower to have its financial auditor present the district's annual audited financial statements at a board meeting, along with an explanation of the district's financial health. Further the policy should also require the financial auditor to present the budget-to-actual comparison from the district's audit report and require district staff to explain variances.

1-Year Agency Response

The District is currently in the process if updating many of their policies including this one. We hope to have them all updated by December 2023. The language from this recommendation will be considered as part of the review. In the meantime the District did have the auditor come and present the audit and will discuss further recommendations for their presentation for the fiscal year audit of 2022-2023.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

Our District auditor will be presenting the Districts audit report to the board to review and accept our audit at our January 19, 2023 meeting. The meeting will be streamed.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The District will continue to follow all requirements Under Education Code (EC) Sections 41020 through 41020.8 and per EC Section 41020.3 will review the annual audit report for the prior fiscal year at a public meeting. While a Board Policy is not required, we are attaching a letter from our current auditor confirming that this recommendation request has been made.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Bellflower's current auditor confirmed the district's request to present to its governing board no later than January 31, 2023, the district's fiscal year 2021-22 financial audit report, including the budget-to-actual comparison. However, we stand by our recommendation that the board adopt a policy to ensure that district auditors make similar presentations in the future and district staff explain variances in the budget-to-actual comparison.

All Recommendations in 2021-108

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.