Beaufort County board votes against taking deeper look at school district’s credit card spending

A potential investigation into Beaufort County School District’s finances, which have come under citizen scrutiny in recent months, was voted down by Beaufort County Board of Education members at its Tuesday night meeting, but the vote — split 5-5 — represented a shift in alliance for one member who has typically voted with the board’s majority.

Chairman Earl Campbell, the longest-serving member on the board, said he has no issue in having a more detailed audit done, something Moss’ supporters on the board think is both unnecessary and insulting to the administration.

“The public has questions and that is the way the right to go,” he said Friday. “We need to make sure if what they’re saying is true.”

The school district came under fire in April when a small group of angry citizens began combing through its finances and firing off emails to the board and the administration about what they saw as questionable credit card purchases, putting superintendent Jeff Moss and senior staff on the defense.

Prior to the citizen scrutiny, the district’s past credit card reports were among the least transparent of the 10 largest school districts. Their outcry prompted changes to the reports, which, as promised by Moss, now include far more detail than ever before.

Moss has maintained that the district’s finances are sound, pointing to years of clean audits and strong internal controls that catch errors.

He isn’t the only district employee who feels wrongly accused.

At the board’s work session last weekend, a bookkeeper for Red Cedar Elementary said she thought the “district’s integrity was being unfortunately compromised” and that she and her colleagues “feel personally attacked.”

Board members in favor of the forensic audit say committing to one is in no way a commentary on the district’s employees.

The motion at hand — to hire a consultant to define the scope of work — would have paved the way for a forensic audit, which is specifically designed to search for any inaccuracies and wrongdoing, unlike a routine annual financial-statement audit, something the district last had in November 2016.

The motion did not pass, with board members Mary Cordray, Evva Anderson, Geri Kinton, Bill Payne and Cynthia Gregory-Smalls voting against it. All five are sympathetic to the superintendent and frequently side with Moss when he’s put on the defense by the public or press.

In a rare move for Campbell, he sided with minority board members JoAnn Orischak, David Striebinger, Joseph Dunkle and Christina Gwzodz.

The board’s open seat could sway the the board’s split vote if the issue continues to boil until after the Oct. 17 special election. One candidate, John Dowling, has already voiced his support for the audit, especially in light of the district’s push for another referendum to build new schools.

Both sides say the costs related to any forensic audit are a concern.

“No one knows how much this cost will balloon or how long this will go on,” Gregory-Smalls said.

That’s exactly why a consultant should be hired, Striebinger said. Someone with an understanding of forensic accounting would limit the scope of the audit, thereby reducing the cost.

“But our checks in the district are working,” Cordray said. “We’re still spending $50,000 a year on an audit and it’s certainly more than (a cursory glance)... we are jumping the gun.”

The district’s auditing firm, Elliott Davis Decosimo, examined five procurement card statements and 40 transactions in its most recent procurement audit.

In the 2017 fiscal year, there were more than 20,000 transactions, which means most transactions aren’t being examined in the annual audits.

An Elliott Davis Decosimo spokeswoman declined to comment, citing confidentiality and professional obligations.

As was the case in Berkeley County School District, a clean audit is no guarantee.

Last January, that district’s auditor issued the highest financial opinion to the Berkeley County school board. Less than a month later, the district’s chief financial officer was fired for embezzling nearly $400,000 to his personal accounts and the FBI launched an investigation. In March, the superintendent resigned.

The auditor told The Charleston Post and Courier that the problems “just couldn’t be detected” and “there are limitations in any kind of internal control system.”

Those concerns loomed large for the board members voting in favor.

Following the failed motion, Cordray immediately motioned to approve the district’s recommendation to audit additional transactions using the district’s current auditor, a suggestion Striebinger noted would not provide any type of independent review.

The motion was not taken up for a vote, and Cordray asked for the issue to be put on the next meeting’s agenda.

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Beaufort County board votes against taking deeper look at school district’s credit card spending."