"There are no allegations of any serious fraud in this investigation. If that was the case, police would be involved," he said.
He was appointed by the Ministry of Education late last month after calls from the school's board of trustees for help with financial management and employment processes, and will be teaming up with newly elected board of trustees chairman Justin Courtney to address the issues.
Mr Rondel arrived in Dunedin on Wednesday to begin his investigation, but was unable to give any detailed information about what he was looking for.
"It's about how income and expenditure surrounding the school trips to Singapore have been reported.
"My scoping is going to include a full review of all the international travel that's happened.
"All the Singapore cultural exchange activity, all the income related to that, all the expenditure related to that, the sources of that income and expenditure, and how that's been reported to the board, so that there's clarity for everyone about how the income and expenditure has been reported.
"There's some indications that there may be some issues. I need to get to the bottom of whether that is correct or not."
He said it would take time to get "an accurate picture" of what was happening at the school.
"I want to get some clarity on the issues as soon as possible.
"We've made a commitment to communicate as soon as we have something we are comfortable about communicating on.
"We're not trying to hide anything here. We just want to have facts that we can talk about."
He said the board had already begun work on the issues by establishing some new governance committees which would look at reporting and policy.
"What I can say is, the school is in a sound financial position. Often, limited statutory managers are appointed when they're not.
"This school is not in financial difficulty.
"It can fully carry on doing all the things it's currently doing, and the kids in the classrooms will not be affected by this."
