School district’s audit still not complete

WINSTED — During the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 17, Town Manager Dale Martin said the long-delayed audit of the school district from the 2009-10 school year still has not been completed.The audit is more than a year overdue and has had at least seven extensions with the state.At the meeting, Martin read into the record an email from Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Vanessa Rossitto, a partner in the auditing firm Blum Shapiro of West Hartford.“I went out to the [Board of Education] on Friday, Oct. 14,” Rossitto wrote in her email. “The client was not able to provide me the information I needed. I just heard from [Data and Grants Manager Diane Gieseking] and she is going to have something delivered to me tomorrow. We were able to finish the review of the ED001 for which there were a couple of adjustments that the client needs to make. I am still awaiting the corrected grant spreadsheet for the state and federal education grants [because the] beginning balances were not correct. Consultant [Joanne Zatarain] is doing this.”An ED001 is a public school financial report and report on grant applications that is filed with the state and details the financial operations for the year.Zatarain is a CPA who was hired by the school district in August to help complete the audit.She is currently an employee with the East Hartford Public School system.At a Special Board of Education meeting on Oct. 6, Zatarain spoke to the board about what she has done while working on the audit.Zatarain said she brought in a programmer to update the school district’s Phoenix accounting software.“I noticed that some of the accounts were not tied correctly to general ledger balances, so [the programmer] fixed that,” Zatarain said. “We are very close to completing the paperwork for [the audit] of the 2010-11 school year.”The school district is currently looking to hire a business manager who is a CPA to replace Paul Petit, who submitted his resignation on Sept. 15.Zatarain discussed the potential benefits and shortcomings of hiring a CPA.“A CPA is obviously someone who has public accounting skills,” she said. “They look at the books. The number one advantage of hiring a CPA in a small district is you are going to get someone who is focused on dollars and cents. But there might be shortfalls where facilities are concerned. They may not know the difference between wiring and plumbing. There is going to be a learning curve. So when you are looking for someone to fill the slot, you need someone who will have great versatility. There needs to be someone with the background which will give the town a sense of security that what you are doing over here has solid numbers that are being produced.”At the meeting, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Danehy said the district received eight applications for the position.No hiring decision has been announced by the district.