School credit card questions easy to answer without forensic audit

Regarding the article recounting the Beaufort County Board of Education’s refusal to authorize a forensic audit of purchasing credit card transactions, no expensive and far-ranging forensic audit is necessary.

Any competent CPA can in a few hours time and at relatively little cost draw a statistically reliable random sample of the 20,000 credit card transactions in question, examine that sampling of transactions in detail, and then express at a 90 percent to 95 percent confidence level his or her opinion regarding the reliability of the results.

If the statistically reliable sample of transactions turns up issues with the types of purchases made with the purchasing credit cards, an additional, broader sample would then be drawn and examined to establish the extent of the problems revealed by the first statistically valid sampling of transactions.

If no issues of any consequence are turned up in the initial sample, end of discussion, and no further work is necessary.

It really is that simple. Ask any CPA.

This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 11:29 AM with the headline "School credit card questions easy to answer without forensic audit."