2011 Operations Policy Review: Finance - 30 November 2020

Financial Policies

Financial Planning

Budgeting shall not fail to reflect the school’s strategic results, risk financial jeopardy nor fail to show a generally acceptable level of foresight. Thus financial processes must: 

Financial Condition

The financial viability of the organisation must be protected at all times. Therefore, the principal shall not:

Asset Management

Assets may not be unprotected, inadequately maintained or unnecessarily risked. Accordingly, the principal may not:

Principal's Interpretation

Data to Verify that the Policy Interpretation is Being Fulfilled

Improvement in Your Financial Position 

We would like to congratulate the school for the surplus achieved in the 2019 year in spite of your deficit budget. It is a tribute to the efforts of your team in terms of budget monitoring and control and the focus placed on the financial health of your school. 

The Day-to-Day Accounting System 

Overall, based on our knowledge of your school and the results of our audit procedures, we again found the financial control environment in place at your school to be good. The attitude towards controls and ensuring your school is being governed effectively is very positive. We were also impressed that your board appears concerned about planning and performance monitoring. 

Our Sincere Thanks 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Principal and Financial Administrator for their assistance and co-operation during our audit. The assistance from the school team greatly influences the efficiency of the whole audit process, 

We would also like to thank the trustees for selecting Bennett & Associates as your auditors. We appreciate our relationship with your school and look forward to continuing to provide a valuable service to you. 

Auditor’s Management Letter Recommendations

Inventory Cost

When reviewing stock at balance day it was noted that stock costs did not agree with prices on the December invoices from supplies. Our view is that at balance day stock needs to be valued at what the stock currently costs the School. 

It is recommended that inventory costs are updated in late December to ensure that the stock value at year end is more accurate and that prices are GST exclusive. 

Receipting Audit Trail 

We noted a weakness in your controls over incoming cash and cheques. Cash and cheques received and related receipts were not able to be reconciled back to the bank deposit and it was unclear which deposit the receipts related to. We would like to acknowledge that the school has improved its procedures by ruling off the receipt book but those receipts were not added up and reconciled with the cash banked also unfortunately there were a few minor discrepancies. 

We recommend that the receipt book is ruled off and that the deposit total is written on the last receipt of the deposit book to provide a clear audit trail. The total of the receipts since the last deposit should agree to the amount to be deposited. 

Action/Comment

Chicky Rudkin

Principal