The Livingston Educational Service Agency has received another glowing audit.

The agency says it received an unqualified opinion, the best audit opinion possible, which provides the highest level of assurance that the district’s finances and financial records are in solid order. The audit was compiled by Maner Costerisan. Audit Principal and Director Jeff Staley said Livingston ESA employs highly skilled individuals throughout their business office who do an exceptional job of managing and documenting their accounting and budgeting practices. Livingston ESA has historically received clean audit reports and the finance team was applauded, with Staley noting the level of competence required to attain the degree of accuracy found in their fiscal projections. Staley said “This is most evident in the comparison of the final budget to the actual results presented in the audited financial statements. The accuracy of Agency’s general fund had a budget variance of 0.03% and the special education fund had a variance of 0.13%, which is extraordinarily accurate given the size of these respective budgets.”

Superintendent Dr. Michael Hubert says it’s their duty to the community to be financially responsible and transparent in all operations. He says the positive, clean report is a testament to the integrity and commitment of their finance department. Hubert further commended the Agency’s finance team, led by Teresa Zigman and Laura Walters. He says “The accuracy with which they projected the $65 million budget is equivalent to the average family projecting their monthly electric bill to within $.30. Considering the complexity of the Agency's financial operations and extent of educational services, that level of accuracy is nothing short of outstanding and speaks to their expertise in the school finance realm." In the presentation to the board, Audit Manager Nicholas Kossaras emphasized that the consistency with which the Agency maintains this razor sharp kind of accuracy is not insignificant and it speaks to the strength of their team. (JM)