COLUMBUS, Ohio -- After two straight years of negative reviews, the Columbus City School District is quietly celebrating its latest audit.
The audit was released Thursday and it shows what the district calls tremendous improvement, NBC 4's Patrick Preston reported.
The chair of the district's audit and accountability committee, Stephanie Groce, and Superintendent Gene Harris said the district's finances are strong and that the report reflects the progress they have made over years past.
Significant accounting issues were raised having to do with both finances and assets such as furniture and equipment.
Last year, the state audit knocked the district with 26 reportable problems. This year, only eight problems surfaced in the audit. Last year, there were eight material weaknesses or significant programs, while there were only two this year.
The district is no longer faulted in the audit for failing to keep track of computers and other equipment.
In a separate letter on management, the auditor's office noted that tests they conducted found 13.3 percent of the items tested were not barcoded and 3.3 percent of items sought could not be located.
A district representative said it wasn't in the audit because it's not seen as impacting the district's bottom line.
"We've had a multiple-year Capital Assets Program in place so that we can tag and really identify where all of those assets are. We're about in the middle of getting that done," Harris said.
"The processes that the administration has put into place have mitigated this issue," Groce said.
At this point, officials said, with the older items, it's a documentation issue that they're working on.
"We don't think we're done. We think this is a great move forward, but we know we have lots more work to do and we're looking forward to an even better audit in the upcoming year," Harris said.
District employees are still trying to track down some missing assets, but many of them have been written off as their value diminished over time.
The audit also found two significant deficiencies relating to accounting errors and inventory control.
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