WorkflowFinance, Procurement & Facilities

Student Activity Fund Audit

Student activity funds checked every month, with every club dollar tied to its vote and every gap cited

Gaps found the month they happen, not at year end, with every dollar tied to its vote.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo4,310transactionsOctober transactions in 62 schools, read overnight, every one checked against its documents
demo37gapsfound in 19 schools at the October close; 43 schools were clean
demo75transactionsin the external auditor's sample, drawn at every month's close: 45 at random, 30 weighted by risk
target10school daysfrom month end to an approved finding, instead of up to a year
In short

What is Student Activity Fund Audit?

Student Activity Fund Audit is software that checks a district's student activity funds every month instead of once a year. Eight agents read the club minutes, receipts, purchase orders, travel claims, cash count sheets and deposit slips, lay each dollar out in the order it should move from the club vote to the payment, and draft a finding for every gap. The internal auditor approves each finding with a reason code, and the principal acknowledges it on the record.

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Updated

The problem

Why student activity funds are audited a year after the money moved

Student activity funds are the small bank accounts every school keeps for its clubs, classes, teams and student council — ASB accounts in California and Washington. Students vote to raise and spend money in their meeting minutes, an advisor and the principal approve, a school bookkeeper writes the purchase order and the check, and fundraiser cash is counted, deposited and posted. Under GASB Statement 84, most of these accounts now sit in the district's governmental funds, because the district approves the spending and the fundraisers, so student activity fund accounting is part of the audited statements, not a side ledger. In California, Education Code 48933(b) requires three approvals before student body funds are spent: a district designee, the advisor and a student representative.

Today a district's school internal audit visits a sample of schools once a year, working from paper binders and from minutes a student secretary typed or wrote by hand, often in Spanish or another home language. The ledger shows who posted a deposit, not who counted the cash. So spending nobody voted for and cash handled by one person surface months after the money is gone, and the same findings return every year: no approval, a missing receipt, one counter, a late deposit. Student Activity Fund Audit puts eight agents in front of that reading every month, so the internal auditor's time goes to the gaps, and every gap arrives with the page it came from.

typical10 of 24schoolsheld fundraisers with no approval, in one district's published internal audit of student body accounts
typical8elementary schoolsmade purchases that were not approved in advance, in the same audit
Where one school's audit hours goestimated
By hand13 hours
With the solution2 hours
  • Collecting binders, minutes, count sheets and bank statements from the school2 → 0.1 h
  • Reading the club minutes and matching each purchase to its vote3 → 0.3 h
  • Checking receipts, purchase orders and the advisor's and principal's approvals3 → 0.4 h
  • Checking cash counts, deposits and fundraiser sales records3 → 0.4 h
  • Writing the findings and the corrective action letter to the principal2 → 0.8 h

Estimated split of one school's audit, in hours, by hand and with the agents. The 'before' column totals 13 hours, within the one to two auditor days a school visit typically takes; the 'after' column is the auditor's review time, about 2 hours — our arithmetic, kept modest.

How it works

How one school's month moves

Eight agents read the minutes, receipts and cash sheets and lay every dollar out in order; the auditor approves and the principal acknowledges.

What comes in
What arrives7 kinds · minutes in the language students wrote them
Agents at work
Document readervalues + page citations
Then
Minutes agenta vote for every dollar
Segregation agentwho counted, who deposited
Then
Fundraiser agentunits × price
Sampling agentthe auditor's monthly sample
Then
Drafting agentfinding + note to the principal
A person decides
Internal auditor approves, principal acknowledgesreason code, then a plan and a date
What comes out
Corrective action
Monthly sample
Audit pack
One case, step by step

One school's student activity funds, from the club vote to a signed corrective action

Tuesday, November 10, 2026: the October close at Marlow Bay Unified School District, 62 schools and 1,140 club accounts. Here is what happens to Ferncastle Middle School's month, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Overnight

    The whole district's October, read before the office opens

    Eight agents

    The agents read all 4,310 October transactions in 62 schools and found 37 gaps in 19 schools; 43 schools are clean and 6 findings are drafted and waiting. The bank statement feed for 3 schools arrived late, so the agents re-read those schools' deposits at 6:42 AM and nothing was missed.

    Ferncastle Middle School: 2 findings drafted and waiting for you.

  2. 02Morning

    Every club payment as a row of dominoes

    Naomi Brandt · Internal auditor

    Ferncastle's 21 club accounts run down the left with their gap counts: Club de Folklórico has 2, the Robotics Club 1. Each payment is a row of six dominoes in the order money should move — club vote, advisor, principal, purchase order, receipt, payment — and each deposit has its own row, from the fundraiser's approval to the posting.

  3. 03One click

    The club vote, in the students' Spanish, beside the English

    Minutes agent

    Naomi opens the club-vote domino. The September 18 minutes, typed in Spanish by the student secretary, say "se aprobó gastar hasta $1,000 en vestuario", beside the English reading "approved spending up to $1,000 on costumes": 14 in favor, 0 against, page 1, motion 1, confidence 0.96. Student names show as Student 1 · president, Student 2 · treasurer.

  4. 04The receipt

    $240 the students never voted on

    Minutes agent

    Check 4417 paid Tlalli Costume Works $1,240 on October 6: invoice TCW-2219, 12 skirts at $85, 12 hair ribbons at $10 and $100 shipping. The advisor's requisition, the principal's approval and PO-FMS-0931 were all written for $1,240, so every approval was there — but the vote was for $1,000.

    $240 over the club vote of up to $1,000.

  5. 05Money in

    The same name on both counter lines

    Segregation agent

    The September 22 tamale sale sold 463 tamales at $5, $2,315, matched by the deposit and the bank credit. But the cash count sheet names Lucía Ortega as counter and as second counter, and she prepared and delivered the deposit herself. The agent read the names and signature lines on the sheet and the slip, at confidence 0.93, not the user who posted the deposit.

    Never accuses anyone: it shows the evidence and a person decides.

  6. 068:31 AM

    A corrective action drafted, with the evidence attached

    Drafting agent, then Jonah Price · Staff auditor

    The Drafting agent wrote CA-FMS-2026-10 with two findings — the costume purchase over the club vote and the one-person cash count — each as condition, criteria, cause, effect and fix, citing the minutes, the invoice, the count sheet and deposit slip 0923-114. Jonah prepared it at 8:52 AM. Approve stays locked until Naomi picks a reason code, and the person who prepares a finding can never approve it.

  7. 0710:05 AM

    Approved with reason codes, acknowledged with a plan

    Gloria Paredes · Principal, Ferncastle Middle School

    Naomi approved at 9:38 AM with AF-02 · Spending over the club vote and AF-05 · One person counted and deposited, and sent it at 9:41 AM. Gloria chooses her plan: the club votes on the extra $240 at its November 19 meeting, and from today two people count all cash collected and the bookkeeper makes the deposit. The plan is due November 24, 2026.

  8. 0810 school days

    Every corrective action on a clock

    Close coordinator

    Principals acknowledge within 10 school days; on day 11 the action escalates to the Assistant Superintendent for Business. Ferncastle's action shows as acknowledged; across the district 7 actions are open, 2 of them overdue, and reminders go to several principals in one action.

  9. 09Drawn at close

    The external auditor's sample, already tested

    Sampling agent

    At 5:58 AM the Sampling agent drew 75 October transactions, 45 at random by school size and 30 weighted by risk, with seed 20261101-4417 logged so anyone can draw it again. 52 are tested and the 4 exceptions — Ferncastle's check 4417 among them — are now findings. A redraw needs a written reason.

  10. 10Audit-ready

    Every step on one trail, and a pack to export

    Priya Natarajan · External auditor

    The trail runs from the Document reader's 9,184 October documents at 4:30 AM to Gloria's acknowledgement at 10:05 AM, people and agents alike, and is never edited. Priya reads and exports the pack, redacted by default, and can change nothing.

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who signs for student activity funds.

The same October close, seen by the four people who carry it — what their month looked like, and what it looks like now.

NB
Naomi BrandtInternal auditor · owns the month close for 62 schools
Internal auditor
Before
Finds the problem eleven months after the money is gone, from a sample of schools and their binders.
Now
Reads each club's month as rows of dominoes, decides only on the gaps, and approves every finding with a reason code the month it happens.
JP
Jonah PriceStaff auditor · works the gaps and prepares findings
Staff auditor
Before
Spends half his week asking a school to scan a page, then writes each finding from scratch.
Now
Opens a finding the Drafting agent has already written with the documents attached, edits it and prepares it for approval.
GP
Gloria ParedesPrincipal · approves club spending and acknowledges findings
Principal, Ferncastle Middle School
Before
Hears about a club purchase months later, after the advisor and the officers have moved on.
Now
Reads a plain note that says what to fix and by when, picks a plan and acknowledges it on the record.
RO
Raymond OkaforDirector of fiscal services · sets the audit rules and the GASB 84 classification
Director of fiscal services
Before
Signs the numbers behind the audited statements while the evidence for each account sits in 62 schools.
Now
Sees all 1,140 accounts classified with their basis, and approves every reclassification himself.
Built on the engine

8 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Eight agents read the minutes, receipts and cash sheets and lay every dollar out in order; the auditor approves and the principal acknowledges.

Close coordinator

Runs each school's month close: gathers the ledger, the bank feed and the scanned documents, runs the other agents in order, and keeps the close clock.

  • Never decides a finding
  • Never sends anything
Document reader

Reads scanned minutes, receipts, invoices, count sheets, deposit slips, purchase orders and travel claims in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Tagalog, and cites every value to its page.

  • Never replaces the original with a translation
  • Low confidence goes to a person
Minutes agent

Finds each motion in the minutes, its amount ceiling and its vote, and ties every disbursement to the vote that allowed it.

  • Never treats an advisor's signature as a student vote
Segregation agent

Reads the names and signatures on count sheets, deposit slips and approvals, and flags the same person in two roles that must differ.

  • Never accuses anyone: it shows the evidence and a person decides
Fundraiser agent

Reconciles every fundraiser: units sold times price against the count, the deposit, the bank and the posting, including online sales.

  • Never writes off a shortfall
Sampling agent

Draws the auditor's sample at every month's close, half at random by school size and half weighted by risk, so year end is already tested.

  • Never redraws without a logged reason
Drafting agent

Writes each finding as condition, criteria, cause, effect and recommendation, with the evidence attached, and the corrective action note to the principal in plain words.

  • Never sends
  • A person approves every word
Reporting agent

Classifies each activity account under GASB 84 with its basis and builds the year-to-date schedule for the financial statements.

  • Never reclassifies an account; it prepares the change for the director
Internal auditor

Approves with a reason; the principal acknowledges. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any school, club, dollar or rule in the close

The assistant answers from the records, cites the document and page, and opens the screen it is talking about.

Why is the Folklórico costume purchase flagged?

Check 4417 paid $1,240 to Tlalli Costume Works on October 6. On September 18 the club voted to spend up to $1,000: "se aprobó gastar hasta $1,000 en vestuario". The requisition left the minutes date blank. So $240 was spent without a vote.

Which schools had one person count and deposit cash?

Six October deposits, Ferncastle Middle School's $2,315 tamale sale among them. The other 1,706 deposits were counted by two people.

Pull October's sample for the external auditor

It is already drawn: 75 transactions, 45 at random by school size and 30 weighted by risk, seed 20261101-4417. 52 are tested with 4 exceptions, and each exception is now a finding.

Draft the note to Ferncastle's principal

The Drafting agent wrote it at 8:31 AM and Jonah Price prepared it at 8:52 AM: two findings, the costume overspend and the one-person cash count, each with its fix and the documents attached. It needs your approval with a reason code before it is sent.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

Every club payment as a row of dominoes, from the students' vote to the checkFerncastle Middle School's October close. Each Club de Folklórico payment is laid out in the order money should move: club vote, advisor, principal, purchase order, receipt, payment. The club-vote domino is open: the September 18 minutes in the original Spanish, "se aprobó gastar hasta $1,000 en vestuario", beside the English reading, read by the Minutes agent at confidence 0.96.
The month close of a district's student activity funds, in one sentenceThe internal auditor's home: the agents read all 4,310 October transactions in 62 schools overnight and found 37 gaps in 19 schools, listed by kind; 6 findings are drafted and waiting, and 43 schools are clean. A notice explains that the bank feed for 3 schools arrived late and was re-read with nothing missed.
The receipt domino shows the money that was never votedInvoice TCW-2219 totals $1,240: 12 skirts at $85, 12 hair ribbons at $10 and $100 shipping. The club voted up to $1,000, so the receipt domino is tinted and reads $240 over the vote, though the advisor, the principal and the purchase order all approved $1,240.
Club minutes kept in the students' language, read beside the EnglishThe September 18 minutes as the student secretary typed them in Spanish, beside the agent's English reading, with motion 1 highlighted and each value taken listed with its confidence. Student names are masked; opening one asks for a reason and is written to the audit trail.
Segregation of duties in cash handling, read from the count sheetThe Segregation agent reads the names on the cash count sheet, not just who posted the deposit. For the September 22 tamale sale, 463 at $5 = $2,315, Lucía Ortega signed as counter and as second counter, then prepared and delivered the deposit herself.
A drafted corrective action, approved only with a reason codeCorrective action CA-FMS-2026-10: the Drafting agent wrote two findings, each as condition, criteria, cause, effect and fix with the documents attached, and staff auditor Jonah Price prepared it. The internal auditor picks reason codes before she can approve, and the person who prepares a finding can never approve it.
The principal acknowledges with a plan, on the recordAfter Naomi Brandt approved at 9:38 AM and sent the action at 9:41 AM, Gloria Paredes chooses a plan — the club votes on the extra $240 at its November 19 meeting — and confirms two people will count all cash collected, with the bookkeeper making the deposit.
Every corrective action on a 10-school-day clockPrincipals acknowledge within 10 school days; on day 11 the action escalates to the Assistant Superintendent for Business. 7 actions are open, 5 due this week and 2 overdue, and reminders go to several principals at once.
Two-person cash counts, checked for every deposit in every schoolAcross the district, 1,712 October deposits were read with their count sheets and deposit slips: 1,706 were counted by two different people, 6 were counted and deposited by one person, and 2 were deposited after the two-school-day window.
Every fundraiser reconciled to its sales record126 October fundraisers and ticket sales reconciled: 123 match to the dollar and 3 are short, $343.50 in all. Each row shows units times price, or the register tape, against what was deposited — a high school's pumpkin sale of 264 at $15 should have deposited $3,960, not $3,775.
The external auditor's sample, drawn at every month's closeAt the October close the Sampling agent drew 75 transactions, 45 at random by school size and 30 weighted by risk, with a logged seed so anyone can draw it again. 52 are tested, and the 4 exceptions are now findings; a redraw needs a written reason.
GASB 84 student activity funds, classified with the basis for each accountAll 1,140 student activity accounts are classified: 1,118 governmental, because the district approves the spending and the fundraisers, and 22 custodial scholarship and memorial accounts held for named students. Year to date, receipts are $3.41 million and disbursements $2.87 million, and a reclassification waits for the director of fiscal services.
Who did what, when, why and on which evidenceEvery person's and agent's step is on one trail that is never edited, filterable by people, agents, decisions and views, with an export pack for the external auditor, the board audit committee or a state reviewer, redacted by default.
Governance

Built for the audit: cited, signed, on the record.

Eight roles, and blocked pairs that are enforcedA staff auditor prepares findings and approves nothing; the internal auditor approves; a principal acknowledges for their school; a bookkeeper and a club advisor upload documents; the director of fiscal services approves classifications; an external auditor reads and exports, changing nothing; an administrator handles connections and agent versions. Preparer and approver of one finding, counter and depositor of the same cash, and bookkeeper and approver of the same payment are blocked pairs.
Maker-checker on every findingA staff auditor prepares, the internal auditor approves with a reason code, and the principal acknowledges with a plan and a date. The person who prepares a finding can never approve it, a notice goes out only after approval, and a GASB 84 reclassification waits for the director.
Every domino cites its pageClick any domino to open the passage the agent read, in the original language beside the English, with the agent, its confidence and the page. Values below the 0.85 confidence threshold go to a person.
Student names masked, records keptNames in club minutes are masked from the club roster in the student information system; opening one asks for a reason and is logged, and the external auditor never sees them. Financial records are kept seven years after the fiscal year, and a legal hold suspends deletion for a school or a club.
Agent versions pinned, overrides explainedEach agent runs a pinned version — the Minutes agent's v2.6 was pinned for the 2026–27 school year with the director's approval — and anyone who overrides an agent gives a reason code from AF-01 to AF-08.
One trail, and an export pack for the auditorsWho, what, when, why and which evidence, for people and agents alike, never edited — with an export pack for the external auditor, the board audit committee or a state reviewer, redacted by default.
Configuration

Your district's activity fund rules, not ours

The audit rules every school is checked against are settings, versioned and on the audit trail.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Spending over the club vote$0 toleranceThe tolerance before a difference is a gap
Deposit window2 school daysFrom the end of the sale
Counters on all cash collected2Two different people sign; the counter never makes the deposit
Purchase order dateOn or before the invoiceOn or off
Cash look-back for patterns60 daysHow far back the Segregation agent reads
Principal acknowledgement10 school daysEscalates to the Assistant Superintendent for Business on day 11
Agent confidence threshold0.85Below it, a person reads the page
Keep financial records7 years after the fiscal yearLegal hold per school or club; exports redacted by default
Connections

Works with the systems a district's activity funds already run on

Activity fund accounting systemclub accounts, receipts, purchase orders and checks
ERP general ledgeractivity fund totals and the year-end schedule
Bank statement feeddeposits and cleared checks for every school account
Online school payments systemfees, tickets and fundraiser sales paid online
Document managementscanned minutes, receipts, count sheets and deposit slips
Student information systemclub rosters, so student names in minutes can be masked
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
10days
from month end to an approved finding
Todayup to 12 months
With agents≈ 10 school days
target
4,310
October transactions checked against their vote and documents, not a sample
Every transaction
one month, 62 schools
typical
3approvals
before student body funds are spent: a district designee, the advisor and a student
checked on every disbursement
California Education Code 48933(b)

Sources: GASB Statement 84, Fiduciary Activities (effective date as postponed by GASB Statement 95) · Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, Fiscal Alert: GASB 84 and its Impact on Associated Student Body Accounts (May 2020) · California Education Code 48933(b) (three approvals before student body funds are spent) · a large urban school district's published internal audit of student body accounts at 24 schools, July 2018 to February 2019 (fundraisers without approval at 10 of 24 schools; purchases not approved in advance at 8 elementary schools) · "demo" = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · "target" = design goal, measured in the live solution · "typical" = published figures · "estimated" = our arithmetic from published inputs. Marlow Bay Unified School District, its schools, clubs and vendors, and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What district auditors and business officials ask us.

What is Student Activity Fund Audit?

Student Activity Fund Audit is software that checks a district's student activity funds every month instead of once a year. Eight agents read the club minutes, receipts, purchase orders, travel claims, cash count sheets and deposit slips, lay each dollar out in the order it should move from the club vote to the payment, and draft a finding for every gap. The internal auditor approves each finding with a reason code, and the principal acknowledges it on the record.

What are student activity funds?

Student activity funds, or school activity funds, are the accounts a school keeps for its clubs, classes, teams and student council — ASB accounts in California and Washington. Students vote to raise and spend the money, an advisor and the principal approve, and a school bookkeeper writes the purchase order and the check and posts the deposits.

Are student activity funds governmental funds under GASB 84?

Usually, yes. Under GASB Statement 84, an activity fund is reported in the district's governmental funds when the district is administratively involved — for example, the principal co-approves spending and the board approves fundraisers. In the working solution's sample district, the Reporting agent classifies 1,118 accounts as governmental and 22 scholarship and memorial accounts held for named students as custodial, each with its basis, and the director of fiscal services approves any reclassification.

How does it audit student activity funds against the club vote?

The Minutes agent reads each motion in the minutes — its date, purpose, amount ceiling and vote — in the language the students wrote them, and ties every disbursement to the vote that allowed it. A payment over the ceiling is tinted with the difference, and a payment with no vote is a gap. It never treats an advisor's signature as a student vote.

How does it check segregation of duties in cash handling?

The Segregation agent reads the names and signatures on every cash count sheet, deposit slip and approval, not only the system user who posted the entry. It flags the same person as counter and second counter, as counter and depositor, or as preparer and approver, and shows the lines; a person decides what it means. At the October close it read 1,712 deposits and flagged 6.

Does an agent approve a finding or send anything on its own?

No. The agents read, match, draft and sample; they never approve a finding, send a notice, write off a shortfall or reclassify an account. Values below the confidence threshold go to a person.

Do people stay in control of every decision?

Yes. A staff auditor prepares each finding, the internal auditor approves it with a reason code, and the person who prepared it can never approve it. The principal acknowledges with a plan and a date, and an external auditor can read and export everything but change nothing.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your board policy, your audit rules and a month of your schools' records — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own school accounts first.

See it on
your school accounts.

We'll run Student Activity Fund Audit on a month of your own schools' minutes, receipts and deposits.