An audit of Williston Basin Public School District No. 7 has identified 14 opportunities for improvement. Several issues were identified that make it difficult to determine if the District’s financial information is accurate.
Key Issues We Found
Bank reconciliations weren’t performed
For some months in both 2023 and 2024, the District skipped monthly bank reconciliations. When the reconciliations were completed, the District’s cash balances from the ledger did not match the reconciled bank balances. In 2023, the differences added up to more than $6 million, and in 2024, the differences totaled more than $400,000. The lack of bank reconciliations makes it challenging to identify errors.
Grant and tax revenue wasn’t recorded
More than $2.6 million in state and federal grants, and property tax revenue was never recorded on the District’s ledger in 2023.
Unsupported change in beginning fund balance
The District could not explain a nearly $1.9 million decrease to its opening general fund balance for 2023.
Adjusting Journal entries had a lack of oversight
Millions of dollars in adjusting journal entries to cash were made without documentation and without review and approval.
Possible IRS overpayments
The District paid the IRS more than it reported for payroll taxes. Staff could not provide records to explain the overpayments. The unsupported IRS overpayments totaled roughly $2 million in 2023 and $140,000 in 2024.
Federal grant records were missing
The District could not provide supporting documents for many of the expenses charged to Title I and ESSER grants. Title I helps schools support students from low‑income families, and ESSER was federal COVID‑19 relief funding for schools. Without records, we cannot confirm if the spending was allowable under the grant requirements.
Procurement records were not kept
For the District’s CTE Center project, the District did not keep documentation showing how the contractor was selected. State law requires these records to be maintained.
When financial records are incomplete or inaccurate, the public cannot rely on the District’s reports. These issues led to a “disclaimer of opinion,” which means we could not confirm whether the District’s financial records were correct.
The audit report period was from July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2024. To download the full audit report, click here.