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Memorandum March 8, 2019

To: Deans, Directors and Department Heads

From: Doug Kudravetz, CFO, Vice President and Treasurer

Subject: Fiscal Year-End Date Change

As Chairman Cassell reported in his Board of Trustees Winter 2019 Meeting Summary memorandum, “The AU fiscal year (that formerly ran from May 1 through April 30 of the following year) has been changed, effective this year. The new fiscal year will run from July 1 through June 30 of the following year, which will align AU with our peer institutions and better align our accounting for federal financial aid with a fiscal year widely recognized as the ‘norm.’” 

The decision to make this change was not done lightly. Beginning this fiscal year, the university is required to comply with new external regulations that will have a dramatic effect on the university’s financial statements. Additionally, the university historically has faced challenges with the April 30th year-end date, including but not limited to comparability to our peer universities, all of which have June 30th fiscal year-ends, and accounting for our federal financial aid which has a federal year-end date of June 30th. While these were not insurmountable, changing our fiscal year-end to June 30th allows for better data comparisons when making strategic decisions on future academic and operational endeavors, and better aligns with the federal financial aid year-end.

In making this change, we also were mindful of how this initiative aligns with the new Strategic Plan – Change Makers for a Changing World, specifically, “How AU Works.” We held meetings with key AU stakeholders from all central and administrative units on campus to ensure all aspects of the university operations were considered. Everyone was in favor of this change as the current April 30th fiscal year-end now coincides with the end of the academic year, which is the busiest time. This change also will shift the annual leave carryover date to June 30th, which we know will be welcomed.

To implement this change effectively, we have consulted with our internal auditors, external auditors, tax consultants, and Federal cognizant agency for sponsored research, as well as all other regulatory agencies. I have asked Nicole Bresnahan, Assistant Vice President and Controller, to lead this implementation. Please reach out to her directly at nlbres@american.edu if you have any questions or would like more information.