Questions from the fall 2008 Training Sessions
This document represents a summary of the questions that Ministry staff indicated that they would look into and get back to the sector as well as questions that we received after the training sessions that we would like to share with the sector. We have divided the document according to the topics discussed at the training session.
Question arising from content on the 2007 fall training session
Q: The Ministry of Education presented a PSAB exposure draft at last year’s (2007) fall training sessions on segmented reporting. At the time, the segments that were discussed were elementary, secondary, continuing education. What is the Ministry’s position in regards to the requirement for school boards to report by segment?
A: School boards in the Province of Ontario have one segment, that of elementary and secondary education. Therefore, segment reporting is not required in their published financial statements.
Balanced Budget
Q: Does arestriction on the use of accumulated surplus undermine the current role of trustees and their ability to make decisions on the use of those surpluses?
A: The Ministry is not trying to undermine the powers of the school board trustees in making decisions on the usage of accumulated surplus amounts. As part of our goals in modernizing the current financial accountability framework and aligning with provincial practices, the ministry is planning to put in place certain controls to ensure a prudent and sustainable approach is used in addressing fiscal pressures.
New Reporting Model
Q: Where does the amortization expense relating to school funded activities get reported?
A: For ease of implementation and application, we would suggest that the amortization expense related to school funded activities be removed from the reporting at the school level. The accounting for the acquisition of an asset and reporting of its amortization would be done at the board level. Boards are encouraged to work with their schools to ensure the proper reporting is put in place to that effect.
Q: Let’s assume that a school receives a donation by a parent for the purpose of purchasing a play structure. Is this donation a restricted donation and therefore be shown as deferred revenue until the purpose of the donation has been fulfilled? Currently, donations are reported as revenue upon receipt as part of school funded activities.
A: Yes. Externally restricted inflows should be recognized as revenue in the financial statements in the period in which the resources are used for the purpose or purposes specified. An externally restricted inflow (from a parent for example) that is received before this criterion has been met should be reported as a liability until the resources are used for the purpose or purposes specified (PS 3100.15).
Q: Is classroom / non-classroom split necessary since there is no compliance on that any more?
A: As the Ministry proceeds with thenecessary changes to the EFIS forms to implement the New Reporting Model, we will re-examine the current presentation of expenditure categoriesand eliminate any redundancies.
Enrolment Confirmation Process
Q: Currently the FSL quadmester scenario is a manual adjustment performed by the Ministry Finance Officer. Will it continue to be a manual adjustment in the future or will it be eventually accounted for in OnSIS without the manual adjustment?
A: For the foreseeable future, we anticipate that a manual adjustment will be required for this scenario. We will consult with the ONSIS team to explore possibilities for automation.
Changes to 2007/08 Financial Statement Forms
Q: We (school boards) need the SEA amount quicker. Can the Ministry review the approval process for SEA and SIP in order to get the numbers finalized for entry into EFIS?
A: The Ministry is currently conducting a process review on the SEA and SIP approval. The timeline of the financial statements has beenraised in this review.
Q:Some cells require boards to enter the values from last year’s financial statements. If this is the case, why can’t the Ministry pre-populate these fields for the boards and that way the correct numbers are always used? For example, Data A.3, line 1.0 requires opening balance from deferred revenue balance or accumulated eligible expenditures from the previous year).
A:As the Ministry is in the process of making changes to the EFIS formsto implement the New Reporting Model, we will make every effort to pre-populate the cells where we can.
Q: Since boards are now required to key in expenditures by program (Data Form E), the Ministry should consider automatically populating the data onto Schedule 10.
A: The Ministry is in the process of making changes to the EFIS forms to implement the New Reporting Model; we will make every effort to pre-populate the cells where we can.
Q: In section 11, at line 11.31.8.2 and 11.34.8.2, portable relocation costs are now recognized as part of timing of entitlement costs. In 2006/07 only portable relocation costs associated with primary class size were recognized. How do I make sure that all of my portable relocation costs having been captured?
A: The portable relocation costs for lines 11.31.8.2 and 11.34.8.2 are loaded from SFIS. Therefore boards should ensure that the eligible portable relocation costs are properly entered into the “New Facilities” section of SFIS. The board can then recalculate its EFIS submission. The SFIS-EFIS data connection has been updated on a daily basis until October 15. Any changes to SFIS after this date, that impact on the 2007-08 financial statements, will be handled on an individual board basis by contacting Mark Bonham at the ministry.
Although the cells for the primary class size relocation costs are open cells for boards to input, the Ministry encourages the boardsto also update SFIS accordingly to maintain data consistency.
Revised Estimates
Q: Most school boards start from their estimates submission and update it in order to generate their revised estimates submission. Can the Ministry consider populating the revised estimates with the data from the estimates submission? It would save a lot of data entry time for school boards.
A: EFIS has a functionality that allows users to import data into their submission to ease data entry on schedules that are grid intensive. We encourage boards to use this functionality in planning work on their various submissions and reporting cycles. The ministry has not considered populating data from estimates to revised estimates to ensure that the data in the revised estimates reflects all necessary updates.
Questions from fall 2008 TPFR training sessionsPage 1