During the year 2011-12, $260,516.03 worth of APS property was lost or stolen, link.
Recently, COSO auditors found, link;
- apparent lack of accountability for the protection of district assets
- management culture shows varying emphasis on integrity and ethics
- District management's approach to allegations of nepotism, cronyism and protection of property needs improvement
- it is unclear whether the District has reported to the State Auditor discoveries of cash fraud and property losses, or that they intend to rectify this finding in the future
- a perception that management is ineffective or ambivalent about enforcing standards of conduct, and enforces rules inconsistently
- the school board is not focused on evaluating the effectiveness of "the tone at the top"
- the district does not publish a code of conduct
- District assets are not protected from unauthorized access or use
- no systematic confirmation that required performance reviews are actually done
- there is no stated policy requiring employees to report criminal convictions
- credit checks are not done on employees with fiduciary responsibilities who handle cash
- there are no formal processes for periodic risk assessment or root cause analysis of recurring issues
- formal identification of risks at the activity-level have not been performed
- no formalized process for employees to provide recommendations for improvements
- suppliers, customers and others are not made aware of District standards and expectations
- such standards are not reinforced in routine dealings
- improprieties are not reported to appropriate personnel
- formal monitoring of internal controls needs improvement
- personnel are not periodically required to acknowledge compliance with the code of conduct
- the Internal Audit Department is understaffed and therefore consumed with property issues and activity accounts at the expense of systematic issues of risk.
- the District does not conduct formal self-assessments of control processes
- no evidence of a single process or clearinghouse for tracking issues and corrective actions
They, apparently, have not come up in discussion and taxpayers, teachers and students are out another quarter of a million dollars.
photo Mark Bralley
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