Education homework help

Education homework help. Dollars and Sense: Lessons Learned
 
A white paper prepared based the Tennessee Comptrollers Office Investigative Audit Report of Arlington High School from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2010.
 
Within any school, large amounts of small denomination cash change hands. Based on that reality, there is a possibility of accidental or intended misappropriation of school funds. If the ticket count and the cash collected are always perfect, that is a red flag. For example, at the school where I last served as principal, football game attendance can be several thousand spectators; there are three ticket gates, manned by four teachers and an administrator. The likelihood that the ticket sales and cash collection are perfect every time is very low.
 
When the school bookkeeper does not meticulously follow the separation of duties as described in your state’s school accounting manuals, there is a two-fold problem (even if everything is correct). First, there is a procedural problem—separation of duties means that the same person who collects the money should not also prepare the deposit slips. Second, it is not fair to the bookkeeper: without separation of duties, he or she would be one of the first under suspicion if there were accusations of impropriety.  When the responsible teacher, sponsor, or principal fails to receive a receipt for funds within 48 hours of turning money in or altered financial receipts are identified, there is a problem.
 
Bookkeeping
When you as principal are asked to authorize the moving of funds from one account to another to pay a bill, ask exactly why the transfer is necessary.  All money collected by school staff should be appropriately dated, recorded, and acknowledged with a receipt indicating check or cash. Ask those who write checks to ensure that the memo portion identifies the intended account.  Any check that is simply made out to the school can be inappropriately “cashed” from daily cash collection. The completed memo portion of a check helps ensure that money goes where it was intended.
 
Principals must open the school bank statement and review the monthly transactions. In addition to looking for anything that appears to be inappropriate, pay special attention to electronic funds transfers. For example, if account and routing numbers are given to unauthorized individuals, school funds can be easily diverted.
 
Preparing and Supporting Principals
Preparing principals for managing and dispersing public funds is a daunting yet manageable task. Teaching school leaders the basics of school business management must involve collaboration between higher education preparatory programs and ongoing district-level staff development. It is imperative that the superintendent or his or her designees have candid discussions with school principals that review state school accounting manuals and provide practical advice to consider if the school administrator suspects impropriety. Courageous discussions about these matters can prepare principals in advance to help avoid unwanted publicity for the school and protect taxpayer dollars.
 
 
 
Successful School Business Management: Ten Concepts to Remember
Based on the information provided above, aspiring instructional leaders do not need to feel overwhelmed while managing school financing.  The lessons learned from my experiences have gone a long way to help me identify ten common sense indicators that can help point you in the right direction if financial improprieties are suspected. I want to caution aspiring instructional leaders to resets jumping to conclusions if one of these indicators are present; however, when two or more of these indicators present themselves, you must investigate.
 
The following internal and external indicators could be warning signs of possible financial school based improprieties. The ten indicators are as follows:

  1. Vendors terminating accounts.
  2. Vendors insist on talking to the principal about late payments.
  3. Responsible parties failing to take ownership of mistakes
  4. Be leery of bookkeepers that cannot provide a timely financial report.
  5. Failure to meticulously follow the separation of duties when accounting for school funds.
  6. Failing to receive financial receipts promptly.
  7. Cash and ticket reconciliation that are always perfect is highly unlikely and can be problematic.
  8. Moving school funds from one account to another to “Cover” bills.
  9. Checks without the completed memo portion can be easily “cashed” from cash collection.
  10. Principals should open school bank statements and among other thing look for signs of electronic banking.

 
Providing school leaders with the basics of school business management must involve collaboration between instructional leadership preparatory programs and ongoing district level staff development. District level administrators are well served to conduct candid discussions with school principals regarding this critical aspect of school leadership.
 

Education homework help