System weighs new auditing firm

AMITE — The Tangipahoa Parish school system may soon change auditing firms for the first time in 18 years.

Of the seven firms responding to a request for proposals, Harris CPA of Baton Rouge fell to the middle of the pack in scoring, Chief Financial Officer Bret Schnadelbach told the School Board’s Financial Advisory Committee on Tuesday.

Harris CPA has been the school system’s independent auditing firm since 1994, according to system documents.

The highest score — and the system staff’s recommendation — went to Carr, Riggs & Ingram of Mandeville, Schnadelbach said.

Though only two of the four community volunteers serving on the Financial Advisory Committee were present Tuesday, the pair agreed with that recommendation.

Carr, Riggs & Ingram had the third-lowest bid for contract price, at $128,000 over three years, according to the system’s request for proposal scorecard. The yearly average is a little higher than the $38,050 the system paid Harris CPA last year, but still lower than the $152,850 three-year bid Harris submitted this go-around, Schnadelbach said.

The two lowest bids, at $111,920 and $123,300, came from Hienz & Macaluso, of Metairie; and Ericksen, Krentel & Laporte, of New Orleans, respectively. Neither firm had prior experience auditing public school systems, a factor accounting for 15 percent of the total score, Schnadelbach said.

Carr, Riggs & Ingram had the highest score on technical qualifications, including experience with comparable or larger school systems and the quality of the firm’s personnel to be assigned to the task, said Peter Tesvich, purchasing agent of the Tangipahoa School System.

“They were the only firm to assign an information technology partner to review our internal electronic controls,” Schnadelbach said.

The firm also received a positive recommendation from the Jefferson Parish Public School System, which it has audited since 1995, Tesvich said.

“We’re pretty confident in recommending them,” Schnadelbach said.

The recommendation will be forwarded to the School Board Finance Committee for consideration during its June 5 meeting, before going to the full board for final approval.