Hevesi Turns Roslyn Findings Over to Prosecutor, SED, NYSSCPA

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. -- State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi said at a press conference Thursday that he was turning over the findings of a new state audit of the Roslyn school district and its auditor, Miller, Lilly & Pearce of East Setauket, N.Y., to the Nassau district attorney to investigate, The New York Times reported.

The comptroller also referred the case to a branch of the State Education Department that punishes public accountants for misconduct. In addition, Hevesi notified the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants for a disciplinary review.

The audit concludes Miller, Lilly & Pearce was hired without competitive bidding, had a blatant conflict of interest in the sale of financial software to the district, grossly neglected basic duties like reviewing canceled checks and failed to catch rampant multimillion-dollar corruption -- even after a whistleblower's tip on thefts of $223,000.

The accounting firm has also been the independent auditor for 54 other school systems in New York State, including more than a third of Long Island's districts and three upstate, and for several local governments and nonprofit groups.

Hevesi said he had no evidence of major problems in other schools but was alerting all 701 districts across the state.

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-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 1/7/05