Valley school district gets top rating on audit

"No material weaknesses or issues in our finances were found," Kevin Doran said

By John Tredrea
   The Hopewell Valley Regional School District’s handling of its finances during 2005-2006 has received the highest possible rating from the district’s auditor, school board member Kevin Doran said Monday night.
   Mr. Doran, who holds Pennington’s one seat on the nine-member board, chairs the board’s Finance Committee.
   Under state law, the finances of each school district in New Jersey must be audited annually by an independent firm that is state-certified to do such work. The audit must be made available to the public in a written document and formally accepted by the school board. The Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the audit Monday.
   The Hopewell Valley district’s 2005-2006 audit was done by the firm of Holman and Frenia, which has offices in Medford and Toms River. The firm audits about 30 districts in the state, Mr. Doran said.
   Mr. Doran said Holman and Frenia officially gave the district’s financial performance the highest possible rating it can give under state law. "No material weaknesses or issues in our finances were found," Mr. Doran said.
   Holman and Frenia did make six minor recommendations to the district, all pertaining to student activity accounts. Corrective action plans for all six items have been implemented. For example, one of the six recommendations states that all student activity fund disbursement checks requiring conversion of foreign exchange rates to be computed and disbursed in accordance with equivalent monetary units. This recommendation relates to a recent foreign exchange trip for students, Business Administrator John Nemeth said Tuesday.
   Mr. Nemeth credited the hard work and good performance of the business office, including his assistant Robert Colavita, for the strong audit. A good working relationship between the business office and the board’s finance committee also was a key factor, Mr. Nemeth said.
   In New Jersey, the fiscal year of school districts runs from July 1 to June 30, unlike that of municipal governments, which runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.