District 300 Hires Lori Novak for New Internal Auditor Position

The following press release was issued earlier this week, but still seems worth sharing.

District 300 has hired an internal auditor to enhance its finance operation. Here is the press release:

D300 creates, plans to fill new “Internal Auditor” position

CARPENTERSVILLE – Tonight (March 10) the District 300 School Board will consider Lori Novak for the newly created position of Internal Auditor.

With the passage of the March 2006 referendum coupled with the District’s 2006-07 external audit that was issued in January 2008 by Virchow Krause & Company, the District can move forward with this additional effort at accountability and oversight.

This move is not unique to District 300. All across the United States, public bodies are now required to meet new federal reporting procedures. Larger bodies, such as School District 300, are creating an Internal Auditor position to meet the demands of these new requirements.

Novak has more than 20 years of financial oversight experience including working as a fraud analyst at Chase Bank and as an auditor and public accountant at Costabile & Steffens. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration (accountancy) from Roosevelt University, and she has been employed in District 300 since 2007 to oversee the accounting of student activities and the free/reduced lunch program.

If approved by the Board, Novak would earn an hourly rate of $24.81 as a full-time Internal Auditor. She would start work immediately (March 11), reporting directly and solely to the Superintendent. Some of her job duties would include:

  • Write and implement an instructional manual for internal controls
  • Meet new federal reporting standards for public bodies
  • Design, implement and maintain a database of fixed assets
  • Instruct and support principals and school bookkeepers in proper accounting procedures and School Board policies
  • Perform internal audits requested by the Board
  • Prepare statistical, analytical and written reports that note policy and/or procedure violations that require correction
  • Guide and assist external auditors to provide requested documentation
  • Communicate with government agencies as needed

The D300 Business Office has actively advocated for three years to create an Internal Auditor position.

This mirrors the District’s various steps to tighten operational controls, and to do so by centralizing accountability in District 300. Other steps have included implementing Blue Bear student activity account software and Lawson business software. The features of Lawson, which is used by some of the most successful private corporations in the world, include online bidding, specialized long-term reports, and an electronic approval process for all purchases. Lawson has not only made the District’s operations more accurate and efficient, but has also saved the District hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods and services.


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