Financial AccountabillityMonitoringStrategies used in the ongoing monitoring of school boards include the following: 'Sign Off'The Director of Education, or Secretary Treasurer of the Board, certifies that the board's financial statements and other reports are prepared in accordance with the Education Act and the financial regulations. Ministry ReviewMinistry staff conducts standard review procedures to verify a board's financial status, the enveloping provisions, and the grant entitlements. The ministry uses spreadsheets, databases and other electronic tools to analyse the boards' submissions and to compare the data with other reports, such as enrolment and local taxes submitted by the boards. As a result, grants may be adjusted. Ministry AuditThe Ministry has a formal audit plan that supports accountability objectives by monitoring and reporting on the accuracy and reasonableness of data that is reported by school boards. The audit plan takes into consideration the quality of the boards' submissions, financial materiality, field intelligence, sampling, cyclical reviews (eventually each board will be visited) and the representation of English, French, public and separate school boards. The ministry conducts audits in four main areas: day school enrolment, English as a Second Language, teacher qualification and experience and class size. In a typical year, almost 100 schools in over 20 school boards are visited. Provincial AuditorThe provincial auditor has the authority to conduct audits of a school board and has exercised this authority in the past.
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