The Selma City School System produced a “not very flattering” audit from the 2012-2013 fiscal year, according to Acting Selma Superintendent of Education Larry DiChiara.

Audit manager Teresa Dekle, with the State of Alabama Department of Examiners Of Public Records, announced nine internal control findings at either Selma High, R. B. Hudson or within the Title I Program.

Presented during Monday’s Selma City board meeting, the audit report follows the Alabama State Department of Education’s February announcement to conduct a financial audit of Selma High.

“As a school administrator, I was quite embarrassed by the report,” said DiChiara, who is the state’s intervention team leader. “I wasn’t here at the time that these things took place, but any administrator is embarrassed when a report like that comes out. It was not very flattering.”

Dekle said the system was issued an unmodified opinion on its financial statements, which means the Selma City School Board’s financial statements from Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 2013 were are sound and free from material misstatements.

The findings, which all occurred in 2013, mentioned that the Title I director purchased paper from a vendor not awarded a state contract or not bid through an open and competitive process, which violates the Alabama Competitive Bid Law.

Other findings relate to a lack of internal control to maintain an accurate receipt book log.

The audit also listed findings related to inadequate controls for receipts issued by teachers, from other school funds, athletic events, fundraisers and concessions at Selma High and R.B. Hudson.

DiChiara said some actions that lead to a finding might not be done with the negative intent but the outcome still violates a law or code.

The example he gave was a teacher not depositing collected fundraising money to the bookkeeper within the required time.

“You’re supposed to not keep that money for more than 24 hours,” DiChiara said. “Although that money was safe, it still is a violation.”

DiChiara said the report confirms Alabama State Department Tommy Bice’s fiscal concerns, which partly drove the state to intervene in the Selma City School System in February 2013.

“The audit report shows that there are reasons for concern,” DiChiara said. “That’s just a snapshot. When they look at 2014, they’re going to see some of the same things.”

As required by state examiners, the Selma City School Board submitted a corrective action plan about two weeks after the report was released on Sept. 12 that outlines plans to address each audit finding.

The actions include schools maintaining accurate receipt book logs, revising forms to include all necessary information and plans to conduct “mini audits” to monitor the new procedures.

DiChiara is confident the system will be able to correct the problem with ease.

“I’m just not sure there has not been a lot of consequences in the past,” DiChiara said. “We’re trying to first educate them on exactly what they are supposed to do, and then we’re going to hold them to that expectation.”

In the end, DiChiara’s confident next fiscal year’s audit report will prove to be a much better one.

“We assured the auditors that the next time they come and audit us it will be a much, much better report,” he said.

Additional findings and details about the incidents that generated them, and general information about the audit can be found at http://www.examiners.alabama.gov/.