CPA: EIS has ‘pretty good war chest built up’

It was music to the Eminence Independent Schools board members’ ears.
“You have a pretty good war chest built up,” CPA Dudley Shryock said. “You are doing very well to begin the 2010-11 year.”

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Shryock, a certified public accountant, summed up the district’s status at the November meeting after completing the yearly audit for fiscal year ending June 30, 2010.

Some of the financial highlights, he said, included a beginning cash balance of $1.5 million, and $4.3 million in revenue and $4.1 million in expenses.

Shryock said one huge asset was the district’s procurement of the Eminence Community Life Center building, which he said carried an insurance value of $928,590.

A comparison of 2009 and 2010 assets and liabilities tells the story.
Total assets of almost $5.8 million on June 30 are up by more than $1.5 million from June 30, 2009, while total liabilities are up from about $1.9 million to $2.2 million, a difference of less than $250,000.

“Your liability didn’t increase that much,” Shryock said. “You took in more than you spent. That’s just conservative business these days.”
The auditor also pointed to a positive turn-around in the Wee Warriors daycare program.

In 2009 Wee Warriors lost $24,397, but ended the 2010 fiscal year with a positive balance of $9,405. “Last year it was in jeopardy,” he said. “You had a problem, adjusted to it and came out good.”

Shryock praised the food service operations for pulling off a similar comeback. In fiscal year 2009, food services took in $362,539 and spent $372,079, for a loss of $9,540.  In 2010 revenues were up to $391,536 with expenses of $383,929. The department showed a profit of $7,607 — a net gain of $17,147.

“Both food service and daycare operated in the net profit line,” he said.

Despite the overall good news, Shryock cautioned the board to redouble its vigilance over money matters. “State programs are so uncertain,” he said, “you have to have contingency plans. We are facing economic problems none of us has seen before.”