Audit: Schools fail in tracking of equipment

Benjamin Grove

Monday, Nov. 2, 1998 | 11:09 a.m.

The Clark County School District is still scrambling to keep track of its equipment inventory -- everything from computers to sousaphones.

That was one finding of the most recent audit of the district.

"We recommend that district management investigate opportunities for improving the safeguarding of and accountability for equipment at individual schools," according to the audit conducted by national accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick.

KPMG made a similar finding in last year's annual audit.

A Sun investigation in May noted that the district has more than 76,000 pieces of equipment valued at $500 or more -- more than $160 million worth of "fixed assets."

Auditors this year found that $1.9 million worth of equipment was lost. Another $3.9 million worth of equipment was found broken and unusable.

Among the items missing at Las Vegas High School alone were two ice-making machines, two ovens and a wrestling mat.

The fast-growing district has struggled to track its equipment for years, relying on an antiquated, cumbersome inventory process.

Principals and teachers at each school are supposed to do time-consuming manual checks of serial numbers on equipment against inventory cards.

High schools, with several thousand pieces of equipment, must sort through several thousand cards. Some principals simply ignore the annual inventory.

"They are ordering all kinds of stuff under the bond, but they are not tracking it once it gets to the schools," said school district critic Louie Overstreet, who is also a member of the district's bond oversight committee.

"They could be shipping this stuff all over town."

Bar-coding equipment for quick scanning is considered an industry standard in tracking inventory.

But installing a bar-code system could cost the district as much as $500,000. The district has begun ordering some bar codes, at least enough for some of the district's computers, said Walt Rulffes, the district's chief financial officer.

"The paperwork is tremendous, and a bar code could really help speed it up," district business manager Don Lee said.

Peat Marwick spent about a month studying the district to complete the $60,000 audit and accompanying 26-page "management letter." The letter pinpoints areas of inefficiency and waste within the district.

Among the findings: The district is not prepared for the "year 2000 bug," a condition in which computers recognize "00" as 1900 -- not 2000 -- the moment Jan. 1, 2000, arrives.

Still, auditors told the School Board that the overall financial condition of the district was "clean."

"That's the good news," Rulffes said.

Rulffes added that he did not know when the district would have a full-scale project under way to put bar codes on all the district's equipment.

"We'll start with the district's computers," Rulffes said. "Those are the high-appeal items that get stolen."