Agenda Item
1. Audits Currently In Progress
Summary: Presented by: Dr. Joel Thibodeaux, Director of Audit & Compliance, Office of Audit & Compliance
QUARTERLY STATUS REPORT
DeKalb County School District
For the Quarter Beginning on October 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023
Submitted by FORVIS, LLP
Quarterly Performance Overview
I. Scope of Work
As of March 13, 2023, FORVIS was engaged to provide forensic accounting and grant compliance services for DeKalb County
School District (DCSD) in connection with CARES/ESSER spending.
Our scope of services includes:
Utilize DCSD's current subrecipient monitoring tools as a starting point to assess the risk assessment matrix and level of
risk associated with each state agency program subrecipient. After consideration of the risk assessment with DCSD, we
will provide a list of documentation that will be required to complete an examination of ESSER spending to the date
determined by DCSD.
Our process uses a first level assessment team, followed by a second level assessment of federal funds expenditures to
help DCSD assess whether documentation is in line with the approved budgets as submitted by subrecipients and
maintained in accordance with applicable ESSER regulations and requirements.
FORVIS will prepare and provide DCSD with various ESSER spending and LEA specific reports and data metrics
throughout the lifecycle of the project. Additionally, we will work closely with DCSD to recommend additional financial and
reporting metrics that would be beneficial for the agency and other stakeholders.
We will perform the above-mentioned procedures and will take the data we have to provide a report to DCSD with a
financial spending analysis that provides details regarding spending by approved U.S. Department of Education
expenditure coding to General Ledgers (GL) in relation to applicable budgets. The report will also entail gaps identified in
previously submitted reporting to the applicable oversight agency.
At the conclusion of our work, we will present our findings through a written report. We have been retained to provide
forensic accounting and grant compliance services only; however, we understand and accept that we may be requested to
furnish testimony at trial and will prepare accordingly. These reports are not to be published or used in any other manner
other than noted above without the written consent of FORVIS.
Our scope of services also stated that, if for any reason we are not able to complete our scope of services, we may decline to
issue a report as a result of this engagement.
II. Summary of Completed Activities
During the quarter of April 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023, multiple internal kickoff calls occurred within the month of April.
During the initial kick off call, the frequency of communication was set for the project and weekly project status meetings were
scheduled to occur on a weekly basis on Thursdays at 1:00 CST. During the months of April, May, and June, multiple working
sessions were held with both Accounts Payable and Payroll staff to review data requests, interpret the data received and work
through clarifying questions FORVIS had. To expedite data gathering, the FORVIS project team traveled to the DeKalb County
Public Safety office on June 22, 2023 to gain credentials for access to Munis.
During the quarter of July 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023, FORVIS has completed its data analytics review for ESSER I
funds received by DeKalb County School District. These processes have provided additional information necessary to sample
both Accounts Payable and Payroll expenditures coded to ESSER I code 4155. Additionally, during this quarter the FORVIS
team has worked with DeKalb to obtain additional documentation necessary for review. These items include but are not limited
to: policies and procedures for the execution of ESSER I funds, Accounts Payable review and approval procedures, backup
supporting documentation in relation to Governor’s bonus, supplemental pay and other bonuses given with ESSER I funding.
FORVIS PSAS / 1
FORVIS is a trademark of FORVIS, LLP, registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
During the quarter of July 1, 2023 through September 20, 2023 FORVIS also sent a project team member on-site to work with
DeKalb County School District staff to obtain requested documentation and receive walkthroughs of various internal system
processes. These included walkthroughs of Accounts Payable and Payroll processes.
During the quarter of October 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023 FORVIS worked to validate ESSER I expenditures utilizing
the Accounts Payable Register and the sample pulled from our initial Data Analytics assessment. The FORVIS team pulled
backup supporting documentation out of Munis. It was noted during this process that our team did not have the access to be
able to see requisition approvals within Munis. We provided this information to DeKalb to begin working with IT to obtain this
access. The FORVIS team received several training sessions on Munis system to pull back up supporting documentation such
as invoices, purchase orders, contracts and other documentation needed to complete sample of Accounts Payable. The
FORVIS team also worked in collaboration with DeKalb project team members to assist in gaining additional payroll data from
Crosspointe. During the week of November 11, 2023 interviews were completed by FORVIS project staff with DeKalb County
School District team members.
Joel Thibodeaux
Lance McConkey
Shaun Thompson
Dr. Myisha Warren
Eric Cannady
Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith
Antwyn Brown
Michelle Jones
Additional documentation was requested after the completion of these interviews.
During this quarter, the FORVIS team continued to request payroll registers needed for the purpose of completing the payroll
validation process. Additionally, we held weekly project meetings with DeKalb’s various department chiefs to request updates
on outstanding documentation needed to complete our assessment and report.
During this quarter it was acknowledged that our accounts receivable for this engagement had exceeded that of our firm policy
and we put a stop work order in place on December 14, 2023 until the outstanding balance for DeKalb had been paid in full.
III. This Quarter’s Milestones
Milestones completed in this reported quarter include the request and collection of backup support data and documentation for
ESSER I. Additionally, the expenditure validation process was completed with the information we had collected to date and
forensic interviews took place on-site with the DeKalb County School District team members.
IV. A Look at the Quarter Ahead
The FORVIS team will continue to request the backup data and documentation needed to complete its AP and payroll
assessments. We will work to draft the report of those items identified within our forensic processes. Delivering the draft report
to DeKalb during calendar Quarter 1 of 2024 will depend solely on when the additional documentation is received from DeKalb.
Additionally, it is the goal of the FORVIS team to begin the ESSER II and ESSER III monitoring phase of the engagement based
on the outcomes of the ESSER I forensic audit. The FORVIS team will continue to provide recommendations to DCSD regarding
grant funding process improvements and internal control processes in these funding sources.
FORVIS PSAS / 2
FORVIS is a trademark of FORVIS, LLP, registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
V. Project Milestone Overview
Below is a Gantt chart summary of the project’s completed and upcoming milestones for our ESSER I forensic audit and its
related deliverables. As FORVIS begins future phases of this engagement, related milestones will be added to the chart below.
Project Start TODAY Delivery
MILESTONES
General and Planning
Obtain Executed Contract 100%
Project Kickoff Call 100%
Data Working Sessions 100%
ESSER I CARES ACT Forensic Audit/Monitoring
Set up BKD Connect 100%
AP and Payroll Data Received 100%
Data Analytics Complete 100%
FVS Data Review Complete 100%
Complete backup support review for ESSER I 0%
Interview
Interviews Complete 100%
Draft Report to DCSD for Review 0%
Findings Report
Draft Report from DCSD to FORVIS 0%
Final Report to DCSD 0%
Mar‐23 Apr‐23 Jun‐23 Aug‐23 Oct‐23 Dec‐23 Feb‐24 Apr‐24 Jun‐24
FORVIS
PSAS / 3
FORVIS is a trademark of FORVIS, LLP, registration of which is pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office