Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 603 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION › Title 603 CMR 10.00 - School Finance › Section 10.10 - Audit Procedures

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(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 or her 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 or her designee shall be final.