More oversight of NY school funds.

Motivated by the financial scandal that rocked the Roslyn school district on Long Island where several administrators, including the superintendent of schools, were recently convicted of embezzling, New York state lawmakers created a law calling for stricter oversight of school finances. Enacted in July 2005 and fully invested this month, the law mandates five steps:

1. School board members must undergo training to better understand their fiscal responsibilities.

2. Every school district must be able to do internal audits.

3. Each district must have an audit committee formed.

4. Districts must secure the services of external auditors through formal bidding every five years.

5. Districts must create a corrective action plan less than 90 days after receiving an auditor's recommendations.

By June 30, every district must comply with all aspects of the law. Because the law was approved so late in the legislative schedule, up to this point there has been very little change in how districts do business. "I think it is too early to say," says Steven Van Hoesen, director of government relations for the New York State Association of School Business Officials. Rural districts are having the biggest problems conforming, Van Hoesen says. Large school districts may have had some of these components already in place, and suburban districts can get the money to fund expensive audits, but rural districts are often starting from scratch, he says.

Accume Partners, a New York City based internal auditing firm, is handling the process for about a dozen districts across the state, including Peekskill and Sag Harbor. Internal auditing is about people, processes and controls. Simply put, it is a way of making sure everyone is working by the same rules in an effort to ensure fiscal responsibility.

"There is a need for transparency in accounting and a need for transparency for schools and how they do their business," says David Moran, director of Accume Partners Education Practice. "It helps reaffirm confidence in school districts."

In another new online payment system, given the popularity of stricter audits, PaySchools help simplify and streamline financial operations for parent groups across the country, not just for one state.

PaySchools enables parent-teacher group leaders to collect and manage dues and fund-raising proceeds for their schools safely and efficiently while offering parents the convenience of making their payments online with a credit card or electronic check.