Questions school district audit must answer

We held a press conference on Sept. 1 to ask the Beaufort County Board of Education to conduct an outside audit of its procurement card purchases to resolve the many allegations leveled against the program.

Now that the school board has agreed to such an audit, we think the audit should answer the following questions if the board expects it to be taken seriously:

With regard to all of the “p-card” purchases, was district’s procurement code being followed?

If not, how many and how serious were the violations that occurred?

Were any purchases made that are prohibited or not authorized by district policies or by any statute of the state of South Carolina?

How many fraudulent charges were discovered, and did the district receive all of the credits it was due from those charges?

How much was credited as a result of those charges?

If all the appropriate credits have not been applied, how much money is still owed?

Were all the transfers made back to the General Fund for p-card purchases intended to be paid from various cash accounts, such as student activities accounts, etc.?

What was the total amount of those transfers?

Which accounts were involved in the transfers and in what amounts?

After deducting all service-type charges due to the Bank of America, did the district net at least $300,000 in cash rebates?

Finally, although the audit is for one year only, we hope that the auditor’s findings will determine whether a more inclusive look-back is in order.

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Questions school district audit must answer."