Randolph County Schools receives clean audit

ASHEBORO — Randolph County Schools has once again received a clean audit opinion.

At the Randolph County Schools Board of Education’s Oct. 20 meeting, the board received a presentation from its auditing firm, Anderson Smith and Wike.

While the audit report of fiscal year 2024-25 that they received is technically a draft, as the federal government has yet to sign off on any audits of federal funds, the board was assured that this wouldn’t affect the findings.

“It’s not an issue, but still to this date, they have not signed this document,” said Shannon Dennison, CPA with Anderson Smith and Wike. “The only thing that we anticipate changing is the dates when we finalize the audits. We reviewed the drafts of everything, but we figured it was more important to get to you all the fund balance and the financial state of the district than it is to have the dates be the final dates.”

The district received an unmodified opinion on its financial statements, the best opinion that it can receive, and no misstatements or areas of concern in controls, federal awards, state awards were found.

“A lot of work goes into that from finance staff to folks all across the district,” Dennison said. “It’s a long standing opinion for the district, so good job for all the hard work that goes on throughout the year. That is not something that is across the board in every district, so it is something to be proud of.”

“You don’t have to watch the news very long to see some school systems that got in trouble,” said board chair Gary Cook.

The firm also reviewed the state of the district’s cash balances, stating that after starting the year with approximately $2.4 million in fund balance, they ended the year with around $11.7 million within the general fund.

“Fund balance is the district’s savings account,” Dennison said. “Of that $11.7 million, $2.1 million is going to be appropriated in the 2025-26 budget.”

Dennison also stated that the district has around $7.5 million in unrestricted funds that can be allocated as seen fit.

“You can’t say we do everything right, but it’s one thing that I’m proud of,” Cook said. “We got a clean audit, and have a budget we’ve worked within.”

Finance officer Marty Trotter said: “A lot of work goes into what they do, but also a lot of work goes on behind the scenes. They were tremendous in putting all of this together for them.

“This is the most efficient audit team I’ve ever seen in my life. To work with them is a privilege to say the least. Truly, they come in, get their stuff and get out. I appreciate what they do.”

The Randolph County Schools Board of Education will next meet Nov. 17.