Marcia Clark 
The state conducts an annual audit of each faculty district. The audit of DeKalb, the state’s 3rd-major university district, spans the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021. Watson-Harris began working as superintendent in June 2020.
Immediately after some board customers expressed problems about using the services of techniques and federal support shelling out, an exterior investigation exposed some of the difficulties famous in the audit. That investigation identified that Watson-Harris was unaware of these concerns.
The state audit indicates that pretty much $1 million in pandemic aid could have been inaccurately documented or invested devoid of acceptable acceptance centered on their evaluation of a sample of expenditures.
Three human assets and payroll workers in the sample gained bonuses totaling $23,000 without having board approval or documentation of supplemental do the job performed, the audit discovered. Several other employees out of the random sample of 60 were located to have gained bonuses they had been not eligible for or for which there was no documentation.
These troubles could end result in “unnecessary economic strains and shortages” for the district, the report mentioned, if federal or point out schooling officers have been to talk to the district to return some of the money.
District officers instructed auditors that they misunderstood “ambiguous” early steerage about how to invest the dollars. The investigation commissioned by board members, which spanned a related time frame, concluded that workers have been not subsequent district processes when it arrived to disbursing bonuses.
Auditors also reviewed personnel compensation and identified that the district could not give documentation to assistance the yrs of practical experience a lot more than two dozen workforce were being becoming paid for. Other personnel received bonuses they did not qualify for or were paid out higher than their fork out scale. And about 150 employees employed or accrued more holiday vacation time than they were being authorized.
The district blamed these difficulties on a lack of managerial oversight in the human sources and payroll departments and a failure to manage documentation relating to worker spend.
In a response to auditors, district officials famous that its interim chief of human methods, who was in place when these difficulties ended up uncovered, has been moved to a new position. There was no interim HR main mentioned on the district’s web page at the time of publication.
Last of all, auditors uncovered that a lingering transition to a new financial management system raises the district’s chance of squandered funds and accounting errors, and puts an greater load on employees. The conversion to a new technique started in September 2019.
Board users questioned Watson-Harris about this transition in February. She mentioned her workers was using the problems “extremely significantly,” but famous that the challenges predated her administration.
“Without successful controls over a single accounting method, the University District increases its hazard of not detecting glitches or omissions in its accounting and HR/payroll information,” the audit mentioned.
District officials advised auditors they be expecting to change to the new method by March 2023.
