It won’t be major and there shouldn’t be any penalties, but anupcoming state audit of the Lincoln County School District isexpected to produce a few red flags.

Superintendent Terry Brister warned his school board Monday thatwhen the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor begins diggingthrough district records beginning in November, the district wouldlikely fail some new federal standards and be unable to meetauditors’ recommendations. There is no wrongdoing or mismanagementin the district, he said, but not enough time has passed since lastyear’s implementation of new federal auditing standards by theAmerican Institute of Certified Public Accountants for schoolboards and other entities to adjust.

“We did what we were supposed to do with our private audit lastyear, and we haven’t even had time to adjust to thoserecommendations,” he said. “(State auditors) are not coming to havea picnic – they’re going to find something. But I want to tell youwe do the best we can with what we’ve got.”

District business manager Cheryl Shelby said most of thedistrict’s expected infractions would come via errors in coding andproperty designation. Auditors will likely recommend personnelchanges to minimize high-risk assessments, she said, such asseparating the employees in charge of accounts payable from theauthority to purchase supplies from vendors.

But the district can’t make those changes, Brister said. He saidsuch specific personnel assignments would require an expansion ofthe district office the annual budget would not allow.

“We’re a middle class school, and we can’t afford to hire allthe people and expand to the size they want us to,” Bristersaid.

Despite the expected irregularities, District One board memberKay Coon predicted the audit to go smoothly because of thedistrict’s past record.

“We have gotten a reputation as being a good district because wedon’t run in the red,” she said.

Districts are audited by the state every four years, and severaldistricts around Southwest Mississippi are being inspected thisyear, Brister said. State auditors are expected to arrive at thedistrict office in three weeks, and will research and observe thedistrict well into 2010.

It won’t be cheap. Brister said the district’s private audit,which wrapped up in June, cost $15,000, and the state audit couldcost more than $50,000. In an ironic twist, state-funded schooldistricts have to pay for state-mandated audits with their statefunding.