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Accounting & Reporting

The Certified Annual [Financial] Report (CAR) is a report of financial data required by Iowa Code to be filed annually with the Department of Education by each school district and area education agency. The CAR is due no later than September 15 following the close of the fiscal year.

The CAR consists of a Chart of Account upload and online data collection and is located in the Iowa Education Portal. Below are the specifications for the software providers, districts, and area education agencies; the instructions for the CAR; and certified annual reports from previous years submitted by school districts and area education agencies.


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Data Used to File FY24 CAR

2023-24 Commodities

2023-24 Local Food for Schools

2023-24 District AEA Flowthrough Amounts - Funding for the area education agencies (AEAs) is included in the annual budgets of school districts within each AEA's area. The funding is paid directly to the AEAs from the state. This document is the amount for the AEA flowthrough that each district must report on its CAR as both a revenue and an expenditure in the General Fund.

2023-24 Sources for Local Projects - Lists certain categorical funding or budget authority that has a supplemental weighting or modified supplemental amount element. The district's CAR must reflect these amounts reported from state records.

2023-24 State Aid and Preschool Funding

2023-24 Utility Replacement Tax Payments - Only utility items labeled "Gas and Electric" or "Utility Replacement" or "Excise Tax" should be coded as Utility Excise Replacement Taxes, Source 1171. Items labeled "Utilities" or "Current/Delinquent Utilities" are coded as regular property tax, Source 1110 (1111).

2023-24 Two-Tier Replacement Amounts

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Data Used to File FY23 CAR

2022-23 Commodities

2022-23 Local Food for Schools

2022-23 District AEA Flowthrough Amounts - Funding for the area education agencies (AEAs) is included in the annual budgets of school districts within each AEA's area. The funding is paid directly to the AEAs from the state. This document is the amount for the AEA flowthrough that each district must report on its CAR as both a revenue and an expenditure in the General Fund.

2022-23 Sources for Local Projects - Lists certain categorical funding or budget authority that has a supplemental weighting or modified supplemental amount element. The district's CAR must reflect these amounts reported from state records.

2022-23 State Aid and Preschool Funding

2022-2023 Utility Replacement Tax Payments - Only utility items labeled "Gas and Electric" or "Utility Replacement" or "Excise Tax" should be coded as Utility Excise Replacement Taxes, Source 1171. Items labeled "Utilities" or "Current/Delinquent Utilities" are coded as regular property tax, Source 1110 (1111).

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Instructions

FY24 CAR Instructions

How to Run CAR Reports in EdInsight

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User Information

Best Practices for a Successful and Timely CAR

Best Practices for Certifying the CAR

Chart of Account Upload File Specifications

How to use the CAR - Chart of Account

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CAR by District/AEA

Each fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year in which the Charts of Accounts were first uploaded, information from the CAR has been made available for analysis on a comparable basis. These workbooks have been created from queries. In earlier years, staff, student, and facilities data were collected as a non-fiscal CAR. This information is no longer collected on the CAR. Prior years CARs are available upon request.

2021-2022 CAR data

2022-2023 CAR data

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Uniform Financial Accounting Manual, Chart of Account Descriptions, Chart of Account Coding, and School Finance Terminology.

Iowa Education Portal Sign-in

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