Audit Buzz Newsletter April 2026

Office Updates

In this issue, we discuss From Numbers to Nurture: How School Audits Improve Students and Family Quality of Life in the Knowledge Hive; plan to celebrate Internal Audit Awareness Month and offer a training opportunity.  

Prior editions of Audit Buzz are archived here on Office of Auditor General (OAG) website.

We appreciate the continued cooperation and courtesy shown to our staff by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) management and employees during all audit engagements.

Here is a challenge to test your audit knowledge, before we begin this issue:

Say What You See

Knowledge Hive

From Numbers to Nurture: How School Audits Improve Students and Family Quality of Life

FCPS is the 9^th largest school division (by enrolment) in the United States: The division serves about 183,000 kindergarten to 12^th grade (K12) students. Many families move to Fairfax County because of the high quality of K12 public education offered here.  As the internal audit serving FCPS, it is important that OAG demonstrates rigorous fiscal oversight over the schools’ financial operations and handling of funds.

OAG helps protect the division’s position as a leader in student achievement.  At FCPS, we have almost 200 schools. OAG conducts some sorts of audits annually in every one of them. OAG utilizes a multi-tiered strategy: Continuous Monitoring, Business Process Audits, and Local School Activity Fund (LSAF) Audits, to achieve this goal.

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1.  Continuous Monitoring: Real-Time Data Analytics

Continuous monitoring is a technology-based process that analyzes patterns and trends across the division’s schools on a quarterly basis. This approach is significantly more efficient than traditional sampling, allowing for a broader view of the division’s financial health.

• Mechanism: Each quarter, OAG analyzes division-wide financial reports (for about 50 schools) to select transactions for review, covering both general operating (appropriated) and school-based (non-appropriated) funds. 
• Site Visits: OAG randomly selects between 15-20 schools each quarter for in-person inspections to test asset security, such as check stock and safes, and to ensure control compliance.
• Strategic Integration: This program serves as a "feeder" for other engagements; significant exceptions in appropriated funds may trigger a deeper Business Process Audit, which will be explained later in this article.

To illustrate, below table shows the key results of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 Continuous Monitoring:

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2.  Business Process Audits: Deep-Dive Risk Mitigation

Business Process Audits (BPA) are intensive engagements performed when specific risk indicators are identified or when there is significant turnover in school leadership or financial professionals, or cyclically.

• Objectives: These audits evaluate the effectiveness of school specific processes and verify that checks and balances are functioning as intended to prevent fraud and ensure compliance.
• FY 2025 Impact: OAG completed 14 BPA and identified almost 50 findings. Most findings related to the purchasing process, documentation sufficiency, and the timeliness of payments. High-risk findings are prioritized where missing controls could negatively impact the achievement of operational objectives.

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3.  Local School Activity Fund (LSAF) Audit: Protecting Student Life

The LSAF audit focuses on "non-appropriated" funds - money derived from the very activities that define the student experience, such as athletics, clubs, and extracurricular activities.  In addition, per the Code of Virgina, all LSAF (i.e. all non-appropriated funds collected in the 199 schools) shall be audited annually.

• Impact on Families: Because these funds are often sourced directly from student fees and family-supported fundraisers, LSAF audit is critical for maintaining community trust.
• FY 2025 Financial Overview: OAG verified a division-wide ending balance of almost $23.5 million as of June 30, 2025.  To audit all LSAF collected and expended in FCPS, OAG relies heavily on the Continuous Monitoring results.  As one could imagine, before technology was more readily available, OAG performed most of the LSAF audit work in the summer (after our year-end on June 30).  We had to hire a team of five to six summer interns in order to tackle the large volume of testing.  However, with the available technology, we can leverage the testing throughout the year.  At year-end, we only need to validate the balance through bank reconciliations or other year-end procedures.  The life of our auditors and our auditees (i.e. principals and school finance staff) could be improved a great deal.  The level of assurance has also increased, due to the use of more targeted sampling on higher risk areas.
• Key Observations: While OAG determined that LSAF balances were fairly stated, we identified risks in the manual nature of cash collection at school events (like athletic or performing arts programs’ gate receipts) and weaknesses in the accounting system that allow for backdated deposit entries.

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Accountability Beyond the Ledger

In addition to the multi-layered school audit approach described above, OAG’s work extends into processes that touch the daily lives of families. For example, in FY 2025, OAG conducted audits of the Student Disciplinary Process to ensure compliance with federal and state policies, and reviewed Hiring Processes to ensure the division can effectively hire the best staff to serve its students. Furthermore, the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline saw a robust reporting environment with almost 70 inquiries, reflecting high engagement from employees and community members who want a more efficient school system.

By standardizing oversight through rigorous five-phase processes - Risk Assessment, Planning, Execution, Reporting, and Follow-Up, OAG ensures that the school environment is safe, transparent, and focused on its core mission. Ultimately, these audits serve as a "physical check-up" for the division, ensuring that the infrastructure supporting student life and family engagement remains healthy, equitable, and sustainable for the long term.

Did You Know?

Internal Audit Awareness Month

To raise awareness and recognize the Office of Auditor General (OAG), May has been designated as the Internal Audit Awareness Month by the Institute of Internal Auditors. FCPS employees please join OAG to celebrate on May 13 (Wednesday) in the foyer of Gatehouse Cafe from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

OAG serves and operates at the direction of the School Board.  The School Board Audit Committee serves to promote the independence and objectivity of OAG by ensuring broad audit coverage, adequate consideration of audit reports, and appropriate action on recommendations.  OAG has an important purpose within FCPS, as the internal auditors

OAG Outreach and Education: Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Opportunity - Audit as Ally: Strengthening District Culture through Ethical Core Competencies and Decision-Making

OAG aims at providing regular training to all staff members, covering topics related to mitigating financial and process risks to FCPS. Scenarios will be provided during the training where staff members can take what they learn back to work. OAG is a certified National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Continuing Professional Education (CPE) provider, on behalf of FCPS. FCPS can award employees with CPE credits required to maintain professional certification status.

Course Details: By the end of this session, participants will be able to internalize ethical core competencies, including transparency, integrity, and apply such competencies over decision-making in their everyday work. 

Format and Date/Time: Synchronous online training via Zoom, on April 24 (Friday), from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Three CPE credits will be awarded for the entire training.

FCPS employees may sign-up here April 24, 2026 Training.

Upcoming Events

Next Audit Committee Meeting

The next Audit Committee meeting is scheduled for May 11, 2026 at 4 p.m. Please refer to BoardDocs for meeting information once it becomes available.

Fraud, Waste & Abuse Hotline:

(571) 423-1333 (anonymous voicemail)
InternalAudit@fcps.edu (email is not anonymous)

Online Submission Form

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