Year-End Financial Reporting for Cooperative Schools: A Step-by-Step Guide

Every month you produce a treasurer report, you're building toward one document: the year-end financial summary. This is the report that tells the full story of the school's financial year — and it's the one that stays in the records permanently, gets shared with the full parent community, and forms the baseline for the following year's budget.

Here's how to close the year correctly.

Step 1: Reconcile all accounts

Before you write a single line of the year-end report, every account needs to reconcile to its bank statement. This means your records of income and expenses match the actual deposits and withdrawals on the official statement. If there are discrepancies, resolve them now — not after you've submitted the report.

Check every account: checking, savings, any PayPal or Square balance, any petty cash fund. The reconciled balances are the foundation of everything else.

Step 2: Compile the annual income and expense summary

Sum every category across all twelve months (or however many months the fiscal year covers). This is your full-year income and expense statement. Compare it to your beginning-of-year budget. Every significant variance — any category more than 10% off — deserves a one-sentence explanation.

Step 3: Write the year-end narrative

The year-end report needs more narrative than a monthly report. Write a one-page summary covering: total income and expenses for the year, the net surplus or deficit, any significant one-time items that affected the year's finances, whether the budget targets were met, and the school's financial health going into the next year. Write for a parent audience — someone who was at every board meeting but isn't a financial professional.

Step 4: Prepare for any tax or compliance filing

If your co-op school has 501(c)(3) status, you have an annual IRS filing requirement. For schools with annual gross receipts under $50,000, this is typically Form 990-N (the e-Postcard), which is a brief online filing. For larger schools, Form 990-EZ or full Form 990 may apply. Consult the IRS instructions or a nonprofit accountant if you're unsure which form applies.

Your state may have separate nonprofit registration and reporting requirements as well. The deadline calendar should be in your transition documentation — if it isn't, add it for the incoming treasurer.

Step 5: Prepare the transition package

The year-end close is also the time to prepare the transition binder for the incoming treasurer. This includes the final year-end report, the opening balance for the new year, all account information, vendor contacts, and your month-by-month notes on what the incoming treasurer should expect. The co-op school treasurer transition guide covers everything the handoff package should include.

Common questions

When should the year-end report be finalized?

Aim to have a draft ready within 30 days of the fiscal year end. The final version — reconciled, approved by the board, and filed with any required agencies — should be complete within 60 days.

Who should review the year-end report before it's final?

At minimum, the board president and one other board member who isn't the treasurer. Some co-ops have a formal financial review by a third-party volunteer — see the financial review guide for how that process works.

EasyTreasurer maintains a complete report history — so generating an annual summary is a matter of reviewing the full year's reports, not rebuilding everything from scratch.