Massachusetts Charter Schools

FY18 Charter School Audit, End of Year Financial Report, and FY19 Audit Guide

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. In addition, charter schools are required to electronically file the FY2018 School End of Year Financial Report (FY18CSEOYFR) on or before November 21, 2018.

The FY18CSEOYFR file for each charter school is available for download in the Charter School File Exchange Drop Box Outbox in the ESE Security Portal. New charter schools that opened for the 2018-2019 school year are not required to complete an FY18CSEOYFR.

Changes to the FY18CSEOYFR

The 18CSEOYFR file does not include any substantial changes. Some language was revised to reflect updated terminology. For example: unqualified changed to unmodified and single audit was changed to uniform guidance on the audit questionnaire tab. On the surplus calculation tab, Private Development Expenses will now be manually inputted by the school.

Changes to the F19 Audit Guide

There has been one important addition to next year's audit guide regarding the Agreed Upon Procedures for any school that received Charter School Program grant funds. Effective in FY19, there are additional steps for the auditor to take for any school that exercised flexibilities allowed by the US Department of Education under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for minor facility repairs, necessary renovations, and/or one-time transportation cost. Please see Section 303 Additional Reporting — Charter School Program (CSP) Funding in the FY19 Audit Guide to review the revisions.

Submission Instructions

The Department will not be collecting any hard copies of the audit, financial review, or CSEOYFR. Please do not mail hard copies to the Department. Please ensure that your auditor and other staff members do not mail hard copies either, as it creates an additional burden on all parties.

All documents must be submitted to the Department in electronic form only via the Security Portal. Please be sure to upload these documents to the Charter School File Exchange Drop Box in the Department's Security Portal.

Please be sure to use the following naming conventions when you submit the following documents, as applicable.

1. The completed audit report in PDF format. Please label this file FY18Audit_School Name_ #### (where #### represents the school's 4-digit LEA code). Please do not include the words Public or Charter School. For example; if your school's name is Malden Public Charter School with an LEA code of 4545 it should be named: FY18Audit_Malden_4545
2. If a new charter school has been granted permission to have a financial review performed in lieu of an audit, please label the file FY18FinReview_School Name_####.
3. Management letter, if issued, in PDF format. Please label this file FY18mgtltr_School Name_####.
4. Signed Board Acceptance Letter as a scanned PDF file. Please label this file FY18BOTltr_School Name_####
5. Completed FY18 Charter School End of Year Financial Report in Microsoft Excel format, named 18CSEOYFR_School Name_####.
6. Signed 18CSEOYFR Certification Statement as a scanned PDF file. Please label this file 18CSEOYFRcert_School Name_####.

Reminders

• The first three audit documents (Audit or Financial Review as well as any Management Letter) must also be submitted to the Office of the State Auditor. This can be done via email to Richard.Giovino@SAO.state.ma.us.
• Uniform Guidance (formerly referred to as Single Audits), if applicable, performed in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Uniform Guidance must also be filed with the Federal Audit Clearinghouse. Please refer to the Uniform Guidance for the federal filing requirements.

Additional guidance can be found in the Accounting and Auditing section of our website.

If you anticipate or experience problems with the timely, accurate completion of your audit, financial review (for some new schools), or 18CSEOYFR file, please contact Joanna Laghetto at 781-338-3221 or jlaghetto@doe.mass.edu or James DiMaio at 781-338-3228 or jdimaio@doe.mass.edu. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance in providing this important financial data.