Is Your MD&A Living Up to the Valuable Document It Was Intended to Be? As you close the books on another fiscal year, and begin to prepare for your annual audit, AAFCPAs advises our Charter School clients to take some...
As you close the books on another fiscal year, and begin to prepare for your annual audit, AAFCPAs advises our Charter School clients to take some time now to review the content of your Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). In order to satisfy the principal objectives of the MD&A, management must communicate the most meaningful short- and long-term factors that influenced material changes in your financial statements in the past year. In addition, your MD&A should include management’s narrative of future prospects, including significant uncertainties, or events on the horizon of unusual or infrequent nature. The MD&A is a narrative introduction to your annual audited financial report, and is required supplementary information for all Charter Schools per the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Your MD&A is intended to provide users with the information they need to help them assess whether the school’s financial position has improved or deteriorated as a result of the year’s operations, and whether to invest or continue to invest in your organization.
In this article, John Buckley describes what makes for a good MD&A, and what must be included in your MD&A.
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