YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2005-83

November 2005

The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Grandview C-4 School District.

The school district does not always solicit bids or retain bid documentation for major purchases.  District employees indicated that in most instances, bids were solicited through telephone quotes or other direct contacts with vendors; however, documentation showing vendors contacted, prices quoted, and reasons for selecting the successful vendor were not retained for some purchases.  The district did not have formal procurement policies prior to March 2004, and district personnel indicated the only bidding policy which was regularly followed was the state law that required bids for major construction projects totaling more than $12,500.  In addition, district personnel had difficulty locating various expenditure records and files.  Also, purchase orders for several expenditures were missing, incomplete, prepared subsequent to incurring the related expenditure, or did not have the required approval.  Expenditure records are located at various buildings throughout the district and no standard system is used for maintaining these records.

Credit card purchases were approximately $24,000 during fiscal year 2004, and approximately $46,000 through April 2005.  Some credit card charges were accompanied with just the charge receipt which did not document the goods or services received, and some charges were not accompanied with any type of invoice or receipt.  Additionally, the district has not established policies for district-provided food expenditures for employees not on travel status, does not adequately track food expenditures, and did not document the purpose of some food expenditures.

The district has not complied with some of the contractual requirements with the City of Grandview regarding shared telephone and data communication systems.  The contract requires the district to be responsible for maintaining the system and the district bills the city for its share of the operating costs.  Total annual operating costs have averaged approximately $350,000, with the city's share averaging approximately $90,000 annually.  The district has not billed the city for its share of 2004 operating costs.

The audit report also includes some other matters related to budgetary procedures, an ethics violation related to a district newsletter, and mobile communications controls upon which the school district should consider and take appropriate corrective action. 

Complete Audit Report