THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601050186
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Guest Column
SOURCE: BY FRED CABLER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A letter to the editor entitled ``School questions are unanswered in Chesapeake, too'' appeared in a recent edition of The Clipper (Dec. 10). A verbatim printing of the same letter also appeared in an earlier time in The Chesapeake Post. In the letter, the writer suggests that all is not well with the finances of Chesapeake Public Schools and that ``an independent audit to resolve these discrepancies'' is needed.
The basis for this conclusion apparently resulted from a review by the writer of the letter of reported expenditures in four separate published financial reports, two of which were produced by Chesapeake Public Schools. Because the reported expenditures were all different, the writer apparently assumed that one or all of the documents were inaccurate and the differences ``cannot be explained.'' This, however, is not the case. Yes, the reported expenditures were all different, but the requirements for completing each report were different.
All public school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia are required to submit a variety of reports to local, state and federal agencies that provide funding. In most cases, the data provided to each agency will differ. The reason for this is that each agency is only seeking data relevant to its mission. The four separate financial reports cited in the letter to the editor were requested by several different agencies; thus, they do not report identical information.
For example, one reports the expenditures for only the annual operating budget of the school division, while others add expenditures such as categorical projects (funding from state and federal sources) and all capital (building) projects. An explanation of these differences was provided to the organization represented by the writer of the letter at an earlier time.
Finally, in regard to the call for an independent audit, we are currently having such an audit completed. More significantly, Chesapeake Public Schools has had an audit on an annual basis for more than three decades. In fact, Virginia state law currently requires and has required for a number of years that every school division in the state, including Chesapeake, have an annual financial audit by an independent certified public accountant or CPA firm. This audit must meet all standards set by national organizations such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. We use the same firm to conduct our audit that the city uses for its audit, KPMG Peat Marwick.
In the past all recommendations provided by our auditors have been followed, and our auditors have repeatedly found that we consistently adhered to and correctly followed generally accepted accounting principles. MEMO: Mr. Cabler, a certified public accountant, is director of accounting for
Chesapeake Public Schools.
by CNB