Massachusetts Charter Schools

FY2014 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 5, 2014

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. FY14 audits are due by November 1, 2014. In addition, charter schools are required to electronically file the FY2014 Charter School End of Year Financial Report (14CSEOYFR) on or before November 26, 2014. The 14CSEOYFR 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 FY13 to FY14

The 14CSEOYFR file includes changes intended to streamline statewide charter school financial data gathering and reporting, and to automate the calculation of excess surplus for Commonwealth charter schools.

Income Tab, Restricted and Unrestricted: The following have been split into restricted and non-restricted. (Restricted – The use of these funds are restricted to a particular purpose or project. Unrestricted – These use of these funds are unrestricted and came be used toward any purpose.)
1. Contributions, from Component Unit (restricted)
2. Contributions, from Component Unit (unrestricted)
3. Contributions / Fundraising (restricted)
4. Contributions / Fundraising (unrestricted)
5. Interest / Investment Income (restricted)
6. Interest / Investment Income (unrestricted)
Schedule of Functional Expenses tab, Private and Public:
Development expenses have been split into private and public:
1. Subtotal - Development (Private)
  1. Salaries - Professional - Private
  2. Contracted Services - Private
  3. Fundraising - Private
2. Surplus Tab, Revisions: To ensure accuracy the following changes have been made:
  1. Cumulative surplus beginning of year (Actual carryover from prior FY) is pre-populated from published FY13 Excess Surplus report.
  2. Contributions line now pulls Grants - Private (unrestricted) [line 5b], Contributions, from Component Unit (unrestricted) [line 14b] and Contributions / Fundraising (unrestricted) [line 15b] from the Income tab.
  3. Fundraising line has been replaced with "Development (Private)" and pulls the Subtotal - Development (PRIVATE) [line 170] from the Schedule of Functional Expenses.

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 FY14 audit package is submitted no later than November 1, 2014, and the 14CSEOYFR file is submitted no later than November 26, 2014. Complete submission details are outlined below.

Submission Instructions

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 (Instructions:

). We will not be collecting any hard copies. Please be sure to submit the following documents, as applicable.

The completed audit report in PDF format. Please label this file FY14audit_#### (where #### represents the school's 4-digit LEA code).
Management letter, if issued, in PDF format. Please label this file FY14mgtltr_####.
Signed Board Acceptance Letter as a scanned PDF file. Please label this file FY14boardacceptanceltr_####
Completed FY14 Charter School End of Year Financial Report in Microsoft Excel format, which should already be named 14CSEOYFR_####.
Signed 14CSEOYFR Certification Statement as a scanned PDF file. Please label this file 14CSEOYFRcert_####.

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 Richard.Giovino@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. Please note that the Audit Guide was updated with most of the changes taking place for FY15. If you anticipate or experience problems with timely, accurate completion of your audit or 14CSEOYFR file, please contact James DiMaio at 781-338-3228 or jdimaio@doe.mass.edu. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance in providing this very important financial data.

Last Updated: September 5, 2014