H. B. 2718
(By Delegate Proudfoot)
[Introduced January 14, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article nine-b,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to county
boards of education; and authorizing county boards to select
accounting firms to perform annual audit of boards financial
statements.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, article nine-b, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9B. STATE BOARD OF SCHOOL FINANCE.
§18-9B-13. Inspection and audit of school finance
administration.
The board of finance may, through its duly authorized
representatives, make inspections and examinations of the fiscal
administration of a county school district. The inspection and
examination may extend to any matter or practice subject to
regulation by the state board. Regular and special audits shall be made by the tax commissioner, as required by law, but The
board may make selective audits to determine the accuracy of
statements and reports made by a county board or superintendent.
The report of the examination shall be certified to the
county board of education, together with instructions for the
correction of procedures and practices found to be not in
accordance with the requirements of the state board. The county
board shall comply with the instructions forthwith.
The state board, through its duly authorized
representatives, shall have full access to all books, records,
papers and documents of the county board of education.
A board of education may elect, with the prior written
approval of the state board, to have its books, records and
accounts audited by an independent public accountant in
accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and
"Government Auditing Standards" issued by the comptroller general
of the United States and forward a copy of the report to the
state tax commissioner, which shall be found, declared and
determined to be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of
article nine, chapter six of this code pertaining to the annual
audit by the state tax commissioner. A copy of the report shall
also be forwarded to the state board of education within thirty
days of receipt of the report.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize county
boards of education, with prior approval of the state board, to perform annual independent audits.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.