Auditors issued a qualified opinion on the Madison Parish School Board’s government-wide financial statements and General Fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, citing payroll documentation issues and widespread internal control deficiencies, according to an audit released this week.
The audit, conducted by Kolder, Slaven & Company, found that the School Board initially misstated its accrued payroll liability in the General Fund. While management corrected the liability balance, auditors said the district was unable to provide sufficient documentation to support the resulting increase in salary expenditures. As a result, salary expenses and fund balance figures for the General Fund, as well as expenses and net position for governmental activities, were misstated.
Auditors classified the issue as material but not pervasive, leading to a qualified opinion rather than a clean audit. Other major funds, including Title I, School Food Service, ESSER, and Debt Service, received unmodified opinions.
The audit identified numerous material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in internal controls. Among them were failures to reconcile capital asset records, untimely or missing bank reconciliations, unreconciled payroll liabilities, unsupported journal entries, and improper reconciliation of interfund transactions. Auditors also reported cash overdrafts in multiple funds during the fiscal year.
Several findings were repeat issues from prior audits, including problems related to payroll controls, bank reconciliations, grant monitoring, and capital asset accounting.
Auditors also reported multiple compliance violations. The School Board failed to submit required continuing disclosures related to outstanding bonds, did not meet statutory deadlines for audit submission, and did not properly amend budgets as required under the Local Government Budget Act. The audit also cited incomplete compliance with Act 370, Louisiana’s financial transparency law, and deficiencies in required public meeting publications.
With regard to federal programs, auditors found that the School Board complied in all material respects with major federal grant requirements. However, they identified a material weakness in internal controls over allowable costs charged to ESSER and Title I grants. The audit noted that some grant expenditures lacked documentation showing supervisory approval and verification that costs aligned with grant objectives, increasing the risk of questioned costs.
Financial statements show the School Board ended the year with a negative government-wide net position of $11.4 million. Long-term obligations included approximately $17.1 million in net pension liabilities and $20.4 million in other post-employment benefit liabilities.
The audit disclosed that after the close of the fiscal year, in July 2025, the Madison Parish School Board was placed under fiscal administration by the Louisiana Department of Education due to financial conditions that developed after year-end. In October 2025, the district issued $2.5 million in revenue anticipation notes to support short-term operations.
School Board officials submitted a corrective action plan stating that a fiscal administrator appointed in August 2025 is responsible for addressing the findings, with targeted completion dates set for the 2026 fiscal year.
