603 CMR 10.00:

School Finance

Section:

10.01: Authority, Scope and Purpose
10.02: Definitions
10.03: Accounting and Reporting: School Districts
10.04: Financial Accounting and Reporting: Other Municipal Departments
10.05: Documentation Requirements
10.06: Annual School Spending Requirements
10.07: Special Education Payments and Reimbursements
10.08: Transportation Reimbursement, Resident Students
10.09: Transportation Reimbursement, School Choice, Homeless and Charter School Students
10.10: Audit Procedures
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Most recently amended by the Board of Education: June 25, 2013.

10.10: Audit Procedures

(1) Every school district shall, within nine months of the close of its fiscal year, arrange for and undergo an independent audit of its financial records and submit the report of this audit to the Department. The audit will be conducted, at a minimum, in accordance with the compliance supplement for Massachusetts school districts issued by the Department. The Department may waive the requirement of an annual compliance supplement audit for an elementary school district that has only one school.

(2) The Department may, at its discretion, audit all or any part of a district's records to ascertain whether the student, personnel and financial data reported by a school district are accurate, to ensure that the school district is complying with the applicable laws and regulations governing school district expenditures and operations, and to determine whether the school district is maintaining effective controls over revenues, expenditures, assets, and liabilities.

(a) Audits by the Department shall be conducted according to the Governmental Auditing Standards published by the United States General Accounting Office.
(b) School districts shall cooperate with the Department in the scheduling and conduct of audits. If a school district fails to comply with Department requests for documentation within ten working days, the Department may consider the reported data in question to be unsupported and take appropriate actions based on that finding.
(c) At the conclusion of an audit the Department shall conduct an exit interview with the school district to explain any actions that will be taken as a result of the audit finding, and shall issue a written audit report. The audit report may be used to adjust school aid or local contribution requirement calculations.
(d) A school district that, at the conclusion of an audit, disagrees with an audit determination contained in the written audit report issued to the district by the Department may, within ten working days after receipt of the written audit report, file a written request to the Commissioner for reconsideration of the audit determination.
(e) The request for reconsideration shall include: a statement of the issues disputed, with appropriate supporting documentation, and copies of all documents, correspondence, data, exhibits and other information, including affidavits of witnesses where relevant, which the district wishes the Commissioner to consider in reviewing the challenged audit determination.
(f) The Commissioner or his designee, upon review of the Department's audit records and the district's audit reconsideration submission, may either:
1. issue a final audit determination based on the records submitted by the Department and the district; or
2. convene a hearing to further consider the district's appeal, and thereafter issue a final audit determination. The decision of the Commissioner or his designee shall be final.

Disclaimer:
For an official copy of these regulations, please contact the State House Bookstore, at 617-727-2834 or visit Massachusetts State Bookstore.

Last Updated: July 2, 2013