Massachusetts Charter Schools

FY2013 Charter School Audit and End of Year Financial Report

To:	Commonwealth Charter School Leaders, Board Chairs, and Business Managers
From:	Cliff Chuang, Associate Commissioner
Date:	September 27, 2013

In accordance with M.G.L. c. 71, §89, each Massachusetts Charter School shall have its independent audit filed annually on or before November 1 following the fiscal year end. FY13 audits are due by November 1, 2013. In addition, charter schools are required to electronically file the FY2013 Charter School End of Year Financial Report (13CSEOYFR) on or before November 27, 2013. Please note that this is earlier than in prior years, but this deadline is necessary to ensure that the Department can comply with other reporting requirements. We acknowledge this change may be a challenge, and appreciate your cooperation The 13CSEOYFR file for each charter school is available for download in the Charter School File Exchange Drop Box Outbox in the ESE Security Portal. Major Changes between FY12 to FY13 The 13CSEOYFR file includes changes intended to streamline statewide charter school financial data gathering and reporting. The 13CSEOYFR includes two new schedules, and the return of the Schedule 7C Transportation Expenditures schedule which has been submitted separately to the Office of School Finance in previous years.

Surplus Tuition Schedule: The Surplus Tuition, 20% Excess Carryover Schedule will still be a required component of the annual financial audit. To reduce the likelihood of data entry error, schools will also be required to report data related to the excess surplus calculation within the 13CSEOYFR file. This file will be tied out to the corresponding balance sheet, income statement and schedule of functional expenses figures within the spreadsheet. As with other 13CSEOYFR schedules, schools will need to enter data in the green cells and the spreadsheet will compute other elements. Please see Guidance on FY13 Financial Reporting for related information conveyed previously.
Schedule 7C Charter School Transportation Expenditures: The transportation schedule needs to be completed by schools that are seeking reimbursement for transportation expenses paid by the school's general fund revenue, and does not include in-kind transportation expenses. This information will be provided to the Office of School Finance for purposes of reimbursement calculations.
Audit Schedule: The audit schedule is a questionnaire that schools will simply have to answer "Yes" or "No" to each question based on results of the current year audit.

Our ability to assess progress toward reaching the goals to reform depends on accurate and timely data collection and reporting. We must be able to rely on the data you report in order to administer state and federal funding programs in a timely manner. Please ensure that your charter school's complete FY13 audit package is submitted no later than November 1, 2013, and the 13CSEOYFR file, is submitted no later than November 27, 2013. Complete submission details are outlined below. Submission Instructions This year, all documents will be submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education only in electronic form via upload to the Charter School File Exchange Drop Box in the ESE Security Portal. We will not be collecting any hard copies this year. Please be sure to submit the following documents, as applicable.

The completed audit report in PDF format. Please label this file FY13audit_#### (where #### represents the school's 4-digit LEA code).
Management letter, if issued, in PDF format. Please label this file FY13mgtltr_####.
Signed Board Acceptance Letter as a scanned PDF file. Please label this file FY13boardacceptanceltr_####
Completed FY13 Charter School End of Year Financial Report in Microsoft Excel format, which should already be named 13CSEOYFR_####.
Signed 13CSEOYFR Certification Statement as a scanned PDF file. Please label this file 13CSEOYFRcert_####.

Please note that the first three audit documents must also be submitted to the Office of the State Auditor. This can be done via email to Thomas.Holak@SAO.state.ma.us. As a reminder, single audits, if applicable, performed in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133 must also be filed with the Federal Audit Clearinghouse. Please refer to OMB Circular A-133 for the federal filing requirements. Additional guidance can be found in the Massachusetts Charter School Audit Guide. Note that this Guide is in the process of being updated—primarily to address new issues that have arisen related to networks of charter schools—and we will be seeking feedback regarding changes. We currently anticipate that the revised Guide will be completed and formally in effect for the submission of FY14 audits and end of year financial reports, though we will adjust the effective date depending on the date of completion. If you anticipate or experience problems with timely, accurate completion of your audit or 13CSEOYFR file, please contact 781-338-3227 or charterschools@doe.mass.edu. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance in providing this very important financial data.

Last Updated: September 27, 2013