By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A Birmingham-based accounting and advising company praised the Alabaster City School System for its financial management in a recently released independent audit of the school system.

During a Feb. 8 meeting, the Carr, Riggs and Ingram CPA and Advisors firm presented the results of its audit of the school system, and gave ACS its highest-possible rating.

The school system is required by law to have an external independent audit performed each year. During the audit, the company met with ACS leaders such as Chief School Financial Officer Linda Agee, and reviewed the system’s financial records.

“We are required to have an external audit showing how we handle public funds and all funds in our school system,” said Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers.

According to the audit summary presented by Carr, Riggs and Ingram, ACS correctly documented and accounted for all of its financial actions throughout the 2015 fiscal year, which ended in September 2015.

“In our opinion, the information is fairly stated, in all material aspects, in relation to the financial statements as a whole,” read the audit summary. “We noted no transactions entered in the by the Board (of Education) during the year for which there is a lack of authoritative guidance or consensus.”

According to the audit summary, ACS ended its 2015 fiscal year with a total of $51.2 million in general fund revenues and $48.9 million in expenditures.

“This is our opinion on your financial statements: We have given you an unqualified opinion, which is the highest we can give,” said Carr, Riggs and Ingram representative Jason Harpe.

The audit also reported the school system had more than 70 days’ worth of operating funds in its reserve account at the end of the 2015 fiscal year. The reserve fund currently represents about four months’ worth of operating expenses, Carr, Riggs and Ingram representatives said.

“I’d like to compliment everyone’s hard work on this, and Mrs. Agee is at the head of that,” said Alabaster Board of Education member John Myrick. “It pleases me that we came out of this so well.”