GISD selects firm for bond procedures audit

In an effort to find proof of payment for many of the projects paid for with funds from the 2014 bond, the Greenville, Texas, Independent School District Board of Trustees has selected Whitley Penn as the auditing firm that will review payments made to Bartlett Cocke General Contractors under the bond election program.

The approval of Whitley Penn as the auditing firm of choice passed with a unanimous vote at the April 15 Greenville ISD school board meeting, a month after the board authorized superintendent Dr. Demetrus Liggins to "solicit a scope and fee from one or more audit firms to review payments made to the general contractor under the 2014 bond election program," which was in response to forensic auditor Columbus A. Alexander III's report that he had not found proof of payment for $54 million out of the $72 million bond approved by voters in May 2014.

"Basically, they (Whitley Penn) will go into Bartlett Cocke and pull samples of invoices ... and if they find any problems with the invoices, they'll pull even more samples," said Deidra Reeves, GISD's chief financial officer. "It's basically to determine if all the change overs, all the contractors, and all of that is properly documented."

In regard to whether or not the auditor carrying out the bond procedure audit will visit parts of the district to see what work has been done, Reeves said, "I don't know if they'll look into those specific things, like go make sure if there's 12 ovens (being used by the culinary arts program) or anything like that.

"It's gonna be more like 'they (Bartlett Cocke) said they paid the subcontractor $12,000 for concrete,' then they'll look and see if they paid that subcontractor $12,000."

In the agreed upon procedure for the audit between GISD and Whitley Penn, other documents that will be reviewed include the contract itself and its major amendments, all costs, payment applications, records kept by the contractor's project manager, the contractor's procedures for charging costs to the job, the contractor's job cost reports, and the reports and records of subcontractors hired by the contractor.

The investigation will also involve testing a sample of payroll charges to determine if wages, salaries and labor burden were properly supported.

Finally, the firm will determine if cost savings, for contract amounts that came out less than the maximum price, were properly calculated and carried forward.

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