§ 2116-A — Books and records to be kept by school districts

§ 2116-a. Books and records to be kept by school districts. Unless\notherwise prescribed by the state comptroller pursuant to section\nthirty-six of the general municipal law:\n 1. All school districts shall be required to maintain books and\nrecords in such form as the commissioner of education shall approve.\n 2. All school districts, except those employing fewer than eight\nteachers, shall be required to use a double entry bookkeeping system\nincorporating the fund method of accounting in accordance with a uniform\nsystem of accounts approved by the commissioner of education and any\nschool district under the jurisdiction of a district superintendent may\nat its option request the district superintendent to provide such\naccounting service. The cost of accounting service so requested shall be\nallocated by the district superintendent to and be paid by the school\ndistrict receiving such service.\n 3. (a) The school authorities of each school district, except those\nemploying fewer than eight teachers, but including the city school\ndistricts of the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, shall obtain an annual\naudit of its records by an independent certified public accountant or an\nindependent public accountant. The report of such annual audit shall be\npresented to the trustees or board of education by such accountant. The\nboard of education of the city school district of the city of New York,\ndistricts of such city shall obtain an annual audit by the comptroller\nof the city of New York, or by an independent certified public\naccountant or an independent public accountant. Such city school\ndistrict audit shall include, but not be limited to, transactions\nprocessed at the level of the central administrative office, the\ndistrict, and the individual school. The community districts of such\ncity school district shall obtain an annual audit by the bureau of audit\nof the board of education of the city school district of the city of New\nYork or by an independent certified public accountant or an independent\npublic accountant. A copy of the audit report in form prescribed by the\ncommissioner and certified by the accountant, or, in the city school\ndistrict of the city of New York or the community districts therein, by\nthe accountant, or the comptroller or bureau of audit, as the case may\nbe, shall be furnished to the commissioner on or before October\nfifteenth following the end of the fiscal year audited, except that such\nreport shall be furnished to the commissioner on or before January first\nfollowing the end of the fiscal year audited for the city school\ndistricts of the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers, and\nNew York and for the community school districts of the city of New York.\n (b) On or after July first, two thousand five, all school districts,\nexcept the city school district of the city of New York, shall utilize a\ncompetitive request for proposal process when contracting for such\nannual audit. In addition, on or after July first, two thousand five,\nand applicable to all school districts, no audit engagement shall be for\na term longer than five consecutive years; provided, however, that\nnothing in this subdivision shall preclude a district, in its\ndiscretion, from permitting an independent certified public accountant\nor an independent public accountant engaged under an existing contract\nfor such services to (i) submit a proposal for such services in response\nto a request for competitive proposals, or (ii) be awarded a contract to\nprovide such services under a request for proposal process. School\ndistrict procurement policies and procedures adopted pursuant to section\none hundred four-b of the general municipal law shall be amended, if\nnecessary, to be consistent with this requirement.\n (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph one of paragraph\n(b) of subdivision four of section thirty-five of the general municipal\nlaw, each school district shall (i) prepare a corrective action plan in\nresponse to any findings contained in the annual external audit report\nor management letter, or any final audit report issued by the state\ncomptroller, within ninety days of receipt of such report or letter, and\n(ii) to the extent practicable, begin implementation of such corrective\naction plan no later than the end of the next fiscal year.\n 3-a. In addition to the annual audit required by subdivision three of\nthis section, each school district and board of cooperative educational\nservices within the state shall be subject to audits of the state\nconducted by the comptroller as set forth in section thirty-three of the\ngeneral municipal law.\n 3-b. Each school district shall in a timely fashion post on its\nwebsite, if any, the annual external audit report and the corrective\naction plan prepared in response to any findings contained in the annual\nexternal audit report or management letter, or any final audit report\nissued by the state comptroller.\n 4. The school authorities of each school district may employ or\ncontract for the preparation of payrolls, accounts and records by\npersons, firms or corporations using electronic computer systems.\n