Delaware News

State Auditor Issues a Report on Charter School PCard and Personal Reimbursement Expenditures

Auditor of Accounts | Former Auditor of Accounts - R. Thomas Wagner, Jr. | Date Posted: Wednesday, September 30, 2015



Dover, Del. – State Auditor, R. Thomas Wagner, Jr., is pleased to report that MOT Charter School and Thomas A. Edison Charter School consistently got it right by establishing and following internal controls, which helped ensure compliance with rules and regulations. The same cannot be said for Delaware College Preparatory Academy (DCPA) and Kuumba Academy Charter School (KACS).

The DCPA Board President claimed she made an unrecorded related party loan to the school. As part of her response to the otherwise untraceable arrangement, she provided a letter dated August 2011 in which she approves her loan to the school. The lack of appropriate accounting and related party disclosure aside, she stated she was not aware of the “why and how’s of the [$11,252.87 in] transactions” for which she was reimbursed. The Board President’s reimbursements were highly questionable as legitimate business expenses given the nature of the transactions and the missing or poor quality supporting documentation. The Executive Director of DCPA also received $18,025.78 of which $11,740.87 (65%) lacked supporting documentation to justify the reimbursement. At one point DCPA’s Board President writes “…I am not following why DCPA needs to justify expenses incurred to run its business…”

Kuumba Academy Charter School (KACS) processed payments made in addition to the employees’ salaries for the same work already included in their job descriptions. This arrangement took place for the Head of School, the Assistant Head of School, and a custodian to provide payments for the same services they were employed to perform. In the case of the custodian, his contract was almost as much as his salary as a full-time employee. During the same period, a Managing Director of a CPA Firm held a contract to perform the “Financial Director” responsibilities for the School at a cost of $4,000.00 per month.

A copy of the complete report can be found at: Charter School PCard and Personal Reimbursements Inspection.

For more information, please contact Kathleen A. Davies, CPA-PA, CISA, CGAP, CGFM, CFE, Chief Administrative Auditor, at 302-857-3919 or kathleen.davies@delaware.gov.

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State Auditor Issues a Report on Charter School PCard and Personal Reimbursement Expenditures

Auditor of Accounts | Former Auditor of Accounts - R. Thomas Wagner, Jr. | Date Posted: Wednesday, September 30, 2015



Dover, Del. – State Auditor, R. Thomas Wagner, Jr., is pleased to report that MOT Charter School and Thomas A. Edison Charter School consistently got it right by establishing and following internal controls, which helped ensure compliance with rules and regulations. The same cannot be said for Delaware College Preparatory Academy (DCPA) and Kuumba Academy Charter School (KACS).

The DCPA Board President claimed she made an unrecorded related party loan to the school. As part of her response to the otherwise untraceable arrangement, she provided a letter dated August 2011 in which she approves her loan to the school. The lack of appropriate accounting and related party disclosure aside, she stated she was not aware of the “why and how’s of the [$11,252.87 in] transactions” for which she was reimbursed. The Board President’s reimbursements were highly questionable as legitimate business expenses given the nature of the transactions and the missing or poor quality supporting documentation. The Executive Director of DCPA also received $18,025.78 of which $11,740.87 (65%) lacked supporting documentation to justify the reimbursement. At one point DCPA’s Board President writes “…I am not following why DCPA needs to justify expenses incurred to run its business…”

Kuumba Academy Charter School (KACS) processed payments made in addition to the employees’ salaries for the same work already included in their job descriptions. This arrangement took place for the Head of School, the Assistant Head of School, and a custodian to provide payments for the same services they were employed to perform. In the case of the custodian, his contract was almost as much as his salary as a full-time employee. During the same period, a Managing Director of a CPA Firm held a contract to perform the “Financial Director” responsibilities for the School at a cost of $4,000.00 per month.

A copy of the complete report can be found at: Charter School PCard and Personal Reimbursements Inspection.

For more information, please contact Kathleen A. Davies, CPA-PA, CISA, CGAP, CGFM, CFE, Chief Administrative Auditor, at 302-857-3919 or kathleen.davies@delaware.gov.

image_printPrint

Related Topics:  , , ,


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.