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October 2023

31 October 2023

Accounting for Compensatory Revenue...New Rules

FY23 legislation requires at least 80% of Compensator Revenue (Basic Skills and English Learner) be spent by site. At some point we expect MDE will ask for verification. You can track site spending with a spreadsheet, or, use Smart Finance. If you use SMART Finance, Region 1 recommends having a revenue account for each site and allowable expenditures for each site. We would be happy to help you build the necessary accounts.See the screen displays below that show you where to ...

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05 October 2023

It's Time to Review UFARS Reporting Errors!

After Region 1 submits your UFARS data to the State, it’s time to review and correct UFARS reporting errors. To see if you have UFARS compliance errors, go to the MDE MFR web site https://public.education.mn.gov/MDEAnalytics/DataTopic.jsp?TOPICID=9 See example below to find the UFARS Turnaround Edit Report.

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31 October 2023

UFARS Reporting

Just a reminder that the UFARS reporting deadline is Thursday, November 30th. Remember to check the Turn Around Reports on MDE’s website. Also, anytime you post journal entries for last year in period 202313, make sure you contact us to reclose and resubmit your data to MDE. Also, let us know when your UFARS data is considered ‘Audited’.

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05 October 2023

Budget Publication

According to MDE, the deadline to publish your Budget Publication report is November 30th or within one week of the acceptance of the final audit report by the board, whichever is earlier. There are four reports in Smart Finance to help districts complete this Budget Publication. These reports automatically separate restricted from unrestricted fund balances, revenues, and expenditures. They are located under Custom Reports > Finance Reports > Budget Publication….To get a ...

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September 2023

06 September 2023

New FY24 UFARS Codes

Region 1 recently added new FY24 UFARS codes (listed below) to SMART Finance. (Also, note the deletions.) The codes are now available to use in expenditure and revenue accounts. FY24 Chapter X of the UFARS manual is not available on MDE’s web site yet. If you need help setting up accounts, we have an Excel version of Chapter X available that has been loaded into SMART Finance. Contact someone in the finance department if you would like help setting up accounts. Fi...

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06 September 2023

Operating Capital Deficit

If you have a deficit in Operating Capital (fund balance B01-424-000), chargebacks using object 545 are no longer allowed. Instead, post a journal entry to debit B01-422-000 and credit B01-424-000 for the amount of the deficit.

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06 September 2023

Reminder from MDE

Career and Tech Levy Revenue Reporting – Due Wednesday, September 20, 2023Read the July 19 memorandum regarding Career and Technical Education (CTE) Levy Reporting from Assistant Commissioner Angela Mansfield and Director of the Career and College Success Division Sally Reynolds. The CTE Levy reporting system opened July 19 for entering the actual FY23 (2022-23 school year) expenditures. All actual expenditures must be entered for approved CTE programs by Wednesday, September 20.Minne...

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August 2023

01 August 2023

New UFARS Codes for FY24

With recent legislation, there will be many new UFARS codes and fund balances. School Business Bulletin No. 72 outlines these changes. Go to this link to view SBB N0. 72 as well as previous SBBs: Financial Management (mn.gov) (we recommend saving this link as a favorite). We will be adding these new codes to SMART Finance as MDE releases them. After these new codes are assigned by MDE, hopefully we will get a new FY24 Revenue Projection Model.

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01 August 2023

School Unemployment Aid for FY23 and FY24

There is a new funding source for ‘between period’ unemployment benefits. To take advantage of this new aid, you must use new object code 281 to record expenditures. Since this aid took effect as of May 28, 2023, FY23 expenses incurred after this date are eligible for the new aid.

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01 August 2023

FY23 Yearend Session Recordings

If you want to view the Finance Yearend Sessions, they are available on our website. You must be a registered user and log in to our web site for viewing. Go to our web site http://www.region1.k12.mn.us/main > Products and Services > SMART Systems and click on SMART Finance. Under the Webinars heading, you will see UFARS EOY Meeting 2023.

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SMART Finance News You Can Use