The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has received a clean audit on their financial statements for 2024-2025.
As part of the division’s Annual Report the division includes the audited financial statements, the board approved the Annual Report at their regular meeting on Monday.
“It was a clean audit opinion issued by MNP, who are our external third party auditors, so (there are) no issues that they identified,” Chief Financial Officer Greg McEwen said.
McEwen provided a brief snapshot of the division’s finances on Monday. The board had previously reviewed the statements in a closed session on Nov. 24 and reviewed the findings by auditor MNP.
McEwen said the strong financial performance was because the board of education works inside the budget.
“It was a strong financial year,” he said. “It’s, I think, indicative of our board’s focus on working within our budget that we set, which we did this year.”
The audited financial statement is for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31.
In a similar situation to that in the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, enrollment played a role in creating surplus.
“We did realize a surplus of just over $1.3 million, and most of that was as a result, of our increased enrollment over what we had budgeted, swe did realize more students than what we anticipated,” McEwen said.
The forecasted grants from the government based on forecasted enrollment was $ 31,133,199, the actual grants were $34,086,248.
“I think that’s reflective on the fact that students, see value in our school division, both from an educational and sporting perspective,” he said.
McEwen said that the surplus was an excellent item but the practice is to act conservatively.
“We recognize that that’s not something that will always happen,” he said.
The audited statements saw a budgeted operating deficit of $472,221 compared to an actual surplus of $1,313,620.
The addition of these reserves has been reflected in future planning by the board according to McEwen.
“What the board has done and is reflected in our reserves,” he said. “They have earmarked specific amounts for specific purposes going forward.”
Roughly $3.3 million is earmarked for specific purposes in the future, the vast majority of which relate to student-related activities.
“For example, we’ve got about $1.9 million set aside for curriculum and student learning, so that covers things off for things like our English and French programming, includes our
school budgets for decentralized funds, that includes our school community council funds, that sort of thing,” McEwen said.
The board received the information and confirms it before it is made part of the Annual Report which is submitted to the Ministry. The Ministry then reviews the audited report before it is released to the public in the Annual Report in December.
Staffing costs account for the majority of the division’s expenditures. Out of $40 million in expenses, roughly $27million goes towards salaries and benefits.
“A big chunk of our budget, as it should, goes towards funding our teacher complement as well as our support staff that work in classrooms as well,” McEwen said.
The local auditor indicated that the Prince Albert Catholic financial house is in good order. There was strong evidence of effective and appropriate financial management and accounting and MNP issued a “clean audit” for the division.
Auditors commended McEwen, and the financial team for their careful work over the year and supportive work with the auditors during the audit process.
Total revenues increased from $37,942,743 in budget to $41,808,707 in actual. Total expenses increased from $38,415,944 in actual to $40,495,107 in actual.
McEwen said the board of education takes a focused approach.
“They definitely focus on the financial health of our organization. The first priority, of course, is educating our students and making sure that every learner has an excellent place to learn, but our board does place focus on financial performance to make sure that we can serve our students properly,” he explained.
Director of education Lorel Trumier noted the good work being done in the division that was highlighted in the Annual Report
“(There is) lots of really good work and obviously a clean audited statements very important in the process,” Trumier said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
