Amendments related to the 2015-2016 Ministère de la Famille accountability report

Back to search

Published on


Last update : June 13, 2016

The amendments to consider are provided below. The Order’s Working group on the educational childcare services network invites you to pay particular attention to the impact of these new measures on audits of network entities. Some elements could result in auditors issuing a qualified opinion in their independent auditor’s report on the financial statements of network entities. Therefore, the working group will provide qualification examples which will be posted on the “Expert advice and resources” page in June 2016.


  • Special-purpose allowance to facilitate the transition to the new funding method for CPEs and subsidized daycares
    • According to the Ministère’s directive, this subsidy is an integral part of the 2015-2016 subsidy. The Ministère indicates that part of the allowance must be committed by March 31, 2017 (minimum of 30%) and the balance by March 31, 2018. In the accountability rules, the Ministère indicates that childcare centres (CPEs and daycares) must report the allowance in the 2015-2016 RFA (annual financial report) as a deferred subsidy on line 188 of the balance sheet under non-current liabilities. 
    • However, in the document entitled “Questions-réponses”, the Ministère specifies that the portion of the transition allowance committed by March 31, 2017 may be reported on line 163 “Subventions diverses reportées”, in order to comply with the Accounting Standards for Not-for-Profit Organizations (ASNPO). The Ministère asks that a note be added to the financial statements to specify the allocation between current and non-current liabilities.
  • Special purpose allowance – loan related to the acquisition of capital assets authorized before August 1, 2002
    • According to the Ministère’s directive, this subsidy is an integral part of the 2015-2016 subsidy. According to the directive, the presentation of the deferred allowance under current liabilities does not comply with ASNPOs; the amount should be included under non-current liabilities rather than on line 167 and it should be amortized.
    • This presentation could result in auditors issuing a qualified opinion in their report.
  • Special-purpose allowance relating to the 2015-2016 public sector negotiations
    • As in previous years, the Ministère may grant a special-purpose allowance relating to the public sector negotiations for the 2015-2016 fiscal year to a childcare centre (CPE) or a coordinating office (BC) that satisfies the eligibility requirements. The Ministère will soon be sending out a guide for qualifying CPEs to help them complete the calculation using an Excel tool. The guide will include all the relevant information for determining the special-purpose allowance. If you have any questions, a telephone line has been made available at 514 873 6985 or you can send an email to: 
      MFA.conventions.collectives@mfa.gouv.qc.ca
  • Keeping of payroll records 
    • The 2015-2016 accountability rules include additional guidance on the keeping of payroll records. Auditors are invited to consider these new measures during their audits. 
  • Schedule 1A of the statement of occupancy and actual attendance of children in CPEs and daycares – Children aged 18 to 29 months attending a nursery and children aged 18 to 35 months
    • The presentation of Table 1A has been amended in order to collect additional information on the occupancy and actual attendance of children aged 18 to 29 months attending a nursery. The 18 to 23 month and 24 to 35 month age groups are in the “Enfants PCR de 18 à 35 mois” column. These new directives will impact the audit of the statement of occupancy and actual attendance of children. 
  • Reminder included in a letter from the Ministère dated November 5, 2015 concerning 2015-2016 closed days 
    • We invite auditors to read the letter for purposes of their audits of network entities, which indicates that:
      • If the subsidy agreement sets out December 26 and January 2 as closed days, these days may be moved to the following Monday without having to amend the subsidy agreement. This is only possible if the childcare centre does not normally provide services on Saturdays.

The example of a qualified opinion provided below applies to situations in which the auditor concluded that the special-purpose allowance – loan related to the acquisition of capital assets was not presented in accordance with ASNPO.

Note, however, that the Ministère de la Famille will allow the use of a method that is consistent with ASNPO, according to a letter it sent on June 13, 2016 to network entities that received this allowance.

Qualified opinion in the auditor’s report on financial statements 

Under the 2015-2016 Règles de reddition de comptes issued by the Ministère de la Famille, the organization presented the special purpose allowance – loan related to the acquisition of capital assets authorized before August 1, 2002 as a current liability. In accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations, this special-purpose allowance should be presented as a non-current liability. Accordingly, current liabilities would be decreased by $XXX and non-current liabilities would be increased by the same amount.


1.0.0.0