§ 33. Accounts of officers to be examined. 1. Inspection and
examination of certain accounts. The comptroller shall cause the
accounts of all officers of each such municipal corporation, industrial
development agency, district, agency and activity to be inspected and
examined by one or more examiners of municipal affairs for such periods
as the comptroller shall deem necessary. On every such examination
inquiry shall be made as to the financial condition and resources of the
municipal corporation, industrial development agency, district, agency
or activity, and into the method and accuracy of its accounts.

2. Audits of school districts, boards of cooperative educational
services (BOCES) and charter schools. a. Notwithstanding any other
provisions of law to the contrary, the inspection and examination of
school districts, charter schools and boards of cooperative educational
services accounts shall be conducted pursuant to provisions of this
subdivision. Within such funds as are made available for such purpose,
the comptroller shall cause the accounts of every school district, BOCES
and charter school in the state to be examined pursuant to a plan
developed by the comptroller. Such audits shall be conducted in a manner
so as to provide, that every school district, BOCES and charter school
shall be audited at least once by March thirty-first, two thousand ten.
The priority and frequency of such audits, and any audits conducted
thereafter, shall be based upon a risk assessment process conducted by
the comptroller which may include investigations of alleged
improprieties, previous audit findings and recommendations, or other
financial performance indicators. The comptroller shall provide affected
school districts, BOCES and charter schools reasonable prior notice
before the commencement of any audit.

b. In undertaking such audits the comptroller's review shall include,
but not be limited to:

(1) examining, auditing and evaluating financial documents and records
of school districts, BOCES and charter schools,

(2) assessing the current financial practices of school districts,
BOCES and charter schools to ensure that they are consistent with
established standards, including whether any school district that uses a
risk-based or sampling methodology to determine which claims are to be
audited in lieu of auditing all claims has adopted a methodology that
provides reasonable assurance that all the claims represented in the
sample are proper charges against the school district; and

(3) determining that school districts, BOCES, and charter schools
provide for adequate protections against any fraud, theft, or
professional misconduct.

c. All audits shall include any appropriate findings and
recommendations of the auditors, regarding the fiscal practices that the
auditors believe to be in violation of, any state or federal law, rule
or regulation, or demonstrate negligence or incompetence.

d. The office of the state comptroller shall upon making a finding of
misconduct refer any findings of fraud, abuse or other conduct
constituting a crime that are uncovered during the course of an audit,
as appropriate, to the commissioner of education, the charter entity,
the attorney general, United States attorney or district attorney having
jurisdiction for appropriate action, together with any documents
supporting the auditors' findings.

e. The final audit report resulting from audits performed pursuant to
this section shall be made available to the public by school districts,
BOCES or charter schools upon request for a period of at least five
years. Furthermore, the school district, BOCES, or charter school shall
be required to post the final audit report on their internet website, if
available, or otherwise make available, for a period of five years.

f. Upon the request of the comptroller, any state agency, board of
cooperative educational services, school district or charter school,
shall cooperate with and make its staff, facilities, and resources
available to the comptroller for the purpose of assisting the
comptroller in carrying out all actions taken pursuant to this section,
and shall provide the comptroller upon request, with all data and
records in its possession that relate to audits undertaken pursuant to
this section.

g. The comptroller shall inform and advise the governor and the
legislature in December of each year regarding a review of all school
districts, BOCES, and charter schools audits conducted during the
preceding twelve months and any other pertinent information the
comptroller deems appropriate.

3. Examinations and report. In addition to the inspection and
examination of certain accounts pursuant to this section, the
comptroller by the end of the two thousand eleven--two thousand twelve
school year, shall also examine for the most recent school year as
practicable, the employee benefit accrued liability reserve funds of
school districts established pursuant to section six-p of this chapter.
Such examination shall be for the purpose of determining the amount of
funding in the reserve fund, the amount of liabilities against such fund
and if there exist funds in the reserve fund which are in excess of the
total liabilities of such fund. The comptroller shall notify the school
district if such excess funds exist and the dollar value of the excess
funding. The comptroller shall also prepare a report on the school
districts with excess funds in their employee benefit accrued liability
reserve fund and the amount of the excess funding for each district.
Such report shall be submitted by July first, two thousand twelve to the
director of the budget, the chair of the senate finance committee, the
chair of the assembly ways and means committee and the commissioner of
education.