Audit-Readiness Tools

See the gaps auditors flag first.

Ten yes-or-no questions on the controls charter audits look at first. See your score and your three likeliest management-letter findings, then close them before fieldwork. The math runs in your browser.

These start at a typical charter baseline. Set each answer to your school and your score updates live. Nothing is saved or sent.

Every bank and investment account is reconciled monthly, and someone other than the preparer reviews and signs off within 30 days.

Bank reconciliations

Every bank and investment account is reconciled monthly, and someone other than the preparer reviews and signs off within 30 days.

No single person can initiate, approve, record, and reconcile the same transaction.

Segregation of duties

No single person can initiate, approve, record, and reconcile the same transaction.

Journal entries are reviewed and approved by someone other than the person who posts them.

Journal entries

Journal entries are reviewed and approved by someone other than the person who posts them.

You have a written procurement policy with quote and RFP thresholds, and purchases are documented against it.

Procurement

You have a written procurement policy with quote and RFP thresholds, and purchases are documented against it.

Credit-card and purchase-card transactions are supported by itemized receipts and reviewed independently every month.

Card spending

Credit-card and purchase-card transactions are supported by itemized receipts and reviewed independently every month.

The board or finance committee formally reviews and approves any management or CMO agreement, and sees bank statements and reconciliations.

Board oversight

The board or finance committee formally reviews and approves any management or CMO agreement, and sees bank statements and reconciliations.

Conflict-of-interest disclosures are collected from board and staff annually, and related-party transactions are documented.

Conflicts of interest

Conflict-of-interest disclosures are collected from board and staff annually, and related-party transactions are documented.

Payroll changes such as new hires and pay-rate changes are independently reviewed against written authorizations.

Payroll controls

Payroll changes such as new hires and pay-rate changes are independently reviewed against written authorizations.

You have a written fiscal policies and procedures manual, updated within the last two years, that matches how the school actually operates.

Fiscal policy manual

You have a written fiscal policies and procedures manual, updated within the last two years, that matches how the school actually operates.

You track federal award spending and know whether you will cross the $1,000,000 single-audit threshold this year.

Single audit

You track federal award spending and know whether you will cross the $1,000,000 single-audit threshold this year.

Your audit-readiness score

7 / 10

70% of the controls auditors look at first are in place. Minor gaps to close.

You are most of the way there. The open items below are where management-letter comments usually start, so closing them before fieldwork keeps them out of the letter.

These ten controls track what charter audits look at first: monthly reconciliations with an independent review, segregation of duties, documented procurement, and board oversight of any management agreement. They are the patterns that most often become management-letter comments.

Sources: NYSED charter audit guidelines; single-audit threshold per 2 CFR 200.501.

Where to look first

3 gaps flagged. Listed by risk:

  1. One person controls a transaction end to endWhen the same person handles every step, the audit flags misappropriation risk. Split the steps, or add a documented compensating review where staffing is thin.
  2. Card spending reviewed looselyCharter audits single out card use as a misappropriation risk. Require itemized receipts and a monthly independent review.
  3. Policy manual stale or missingA manual that does not match practice undercuts every other control. Refresh it so it reflects how the school runs today.
Close these before your auditor does. Continuous readiness beats the annual scramble.

Email me my scorecard plus the gap-closing checklist.

We email your result and never store your school's financial inputs. The math runs in your browser.

This is a self-check, not an audit. EduCents is an independent finance partner and does not perform financial-statement audits, and this does not replace your auditor's judgment.

Let us build it with you

Turn slow, manual finance work into systems your board can act on.

EduCents helps charter finance teams turn the board-report scramble into a few minutes, see program costs clearly by campus, and get month-end back under control. We build the tools, and a finance expert checks the numbers before they reach your board.