N.Y. General Municipal Law § 33: Accounts of officers to be examined

§ 33. Accounts of officers to be examined. 1. Inspection and

examination of certain accounts. The comptroller shall cause the

accounts of all officers of each such municipal corporation, industrial

development agency, district, agency and activity to be inspected and

examined by one or more examiners of municipal affairs for such periods

as the comptroller shall deem necessary. On every such examination

inquiry shall be made as to the financial condition and resources of the

municipal corporation, industrial development agency, district, agency

or activity, and into the method and accuracy of its accounts.

2. Audits of school districts, boards of cooperative educational

services (BOCES) and charter schools. a. Notwithstanding any other

provisions of law to the contrary, the inspection and examination of

school districts, charter schools and boards of cooperative educational

services accounts shall be conducted pursuant to provisions of this

subdivision. Within such funds as are made available for such purpose,

the comptroller shall cause the accounts of every school district, BOCES

and charter school in the state to be examined pursuant to a plan

developed by the comptroller. Such audits shall be conducted in a manner

so as to provide, that every school district, BOCES and charter school

shall be audited at least once by March thirty-first, two thousand ten.

The priority and frequency of such audits, and any audits conducted

thereafter, shall be based upon a risk assessment process conducted by

the comptroller which may include investigations of alleged

improprieties, previous audit findings and recommendations, or other

financial performance indicators. The comptroller shall provide affected

school districts, BOCES and charter schools reasonable prior notice

before the commencement of any audit.

b. In undertaking such audits the comptroller's review shall include,

but not be limited to:

(1) examining, auditing and evaluating financial documents and records

of school districts, BOCES and charter schools,

(2) assessing the current financial practices of school districts,

BOCES and charter schools to ensure that they are consistent with

established standards, including whether any school district that uses a

risk-based or sampling methodology to determine which claims are to be

audited in lieu of auditing all claims has adopted a methodology that

provides reasonable assurance that all the claims represented in the

sample are proper charges against the school district; and

(3) determining that school districts, BOCES, and charter schools

provide for adequate protections against any fraud, theft, or

professional misconduct.

c. All audits shall include any appropriate findings and

recommendations of the auditors, regarding the fiscal practices that the

auditors believe to be in violation of, any state or federal law, rule

or regulation, or demonstrate negligence or incompetence.

d. The office of the state comptroller shall upon making a finding of

misconduct refer any findings of fraud, abuse or other conduct

constituting a crime that are uncovered during the course of an audit,

as appropriate, to the commissioner of education, the charter entity,

the attorney general, United States attorney or district attorney having

jurisdiction for appropriate action, together with any documents

supporting the auditors' findings.

e. The final audit report resulting from audits performed pursuant to

this section shall be made available to the public by school districts,

BOCES or charter schools upon request for a period of at least five

years. Furthermore, the school district, BOCES, or charter school shall

be required to post the final audit report on their internet website, if

available, or otherwise make available, for a period of five years.

f. Upon the request of the comptroller, any state agency, board of

cooperative educational services, school district or charter school,

shall cooperate with and make its staff, facilities, and resources

available to the comptroller for the purpose of assisting the

comptroller in carrying out all actions taken pursuant to this section,

and shall provide the comptroller upon request, with all data and

records in its possession that relate to audits undertaken pursuant to

this section.

g. The comptroller shall inform and advise the governor and the

legislature in December of each year regarding a review of all school

districts, BOCES, and charter schools audits conducted during the

preceding twelve months and any other pertinent information the

comptroller deems appropriate.

3. Examinations and report. In addition to the inspection and

examination of certain accounts pursuant to this section, the

comptroller by the end of the two thousand eleven--two thousand twelve

school year, shall also examine for the most recent school year as

practicable, the employee benefit accrued liability reserve funds of

school districts established pursuant to section six-p of this chapter.

Such examination shall be for the purpose of determining the amount of

funding in the reserve fund, the amount of liabilities against such fund

and if there exist funds in the reserve fund which are in excess of the

total liabilities of such fund. The comptroller shall notify the school

district if such excess funds exist and the dollar value of the excess

funding. The comptroller shall also prepare a report on the school

districts with excess funds in their employee benefit accrued liability

reserve fund and the amount of the excess funding for each district.

Such report shall be submitted by July first, two thousand twelve to the

director of the budget, the chair of the senate finance committee, the

chair of the assembly ways and means committee and the commissioner of

education.