[...]... of ces closed in August 2004 The audit was conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards promulgated by the Comptroller General of the United States These standards pertain to the auditor’s professional qualifications, the quality of the audit effort, and the characteristics of professional and meaningful audit reports Specifically, the audit followed the general standards pertaining... investigation, the audit team conducted an extensive document review of CCA and EASC contract and vendor files, financial statements, accounting records, and personnel files To ensure unimpeded access to and the security of these documents after the closure of the four CCA schools, the audit team helped to coordinate the move of the CCA files to a site at one of the chartering districts after the charter of ces... solicit information from the public regarding current and past concerns related to the CCA charter schools For those allegations that fell within the scope of the audit, the audit team conducted further investigation The audit team also developed specific audit procedures to address each of the seven tasks identified in the audit scope For each task, the audit team evaluated whether CCA, EASC, and/or affiliated... to four years The audit team found 37 instances in which EASC electronically transferred a total of $3.9 million of funds from the accounts of the CCAs to its own accounts The audit team found no evidence that the governing boards of the CCAs authorized these transfers of funds to the EASC Moreover, even though all of these transfers exceeded $10,000, 35 of the 37 electronic transfers of CCA funds to... as Vice President of Corporate Development for EASC The stated purpose of EFS was to reduce the costs of the CCA charter schools by maximizing the buying power of all of the CCA charter schools’ programs This was to be accomplished through offering the CCA charter schools the option of purchasing through a single source, namely EFS, in order to receive discounts on volume purchases The CCA board minutes... as noted earlier, the board of CCA #262 approved the usage of EFS services for one year on the condition that any surplus proceeds would revert to the CCA The audit team uncovered evidence that EFS inflated the costs of some of the goods it was selling to the CCA charter schools, and, therefore, generated surplus proceeds However, rather than returning surplus proceeds to the CCA charter schools as... complete overview of the California laws applicable to charter schools The California Charter Academy and the Educational Administrative Services Corporation In 1999, C Steven Cox founded the California Charter Academy (CCA) The CCA received its first charter from the Snowline Joint Unified School District (Snowline) and was granted charter #262 CCA #262 started with an approximate enrollment of 1,700 students... standards pertaining to qualifications, independence, and due professional care The standards pertaining to conducting the audit fieldwork and preparing the audit report were also followed By following these standards, the audit team ensured the independence and objectivity of the audit team, the analysis, and the resulting findings and recommendations offered in this report Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance... conflict with the Guiding Principles pertains to whether EFS was a voluntary procurement option for the CCA charter schools The audit team identified numerous occasions where EASC ordered items such as polo shirts and brochures from EFS on behalf of the four charters However, the audit team found no evidence that the CCA charter schools requested these items or were given a choice as to whether they wanted... under the terms of the services agreement Another concern relative to the shared costs is the consulting contract with Vicenti, Lloyd & Stutzman Between July and September of 2000, EASC developed a contract between three of the CCA charter schools and Vicenti, Lloyd & Stutzman The purpose of the contract was for one of Vicenti, Lloyd & Stutzman’s staff, John Malone, to serve as the chief business of cer