Dartblog

Dartmouth’s fiscal year runs from July 1 - June 30, so the Controller has now had well over four months to pull things together and publish the financial statements for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Below are the various dates of publication for the accounts over the past decade. It seems that despite computerized accounting and other modern efficiencies, it takes the College longer and longer each year to release its results.

2002: September 12
2003: undated (with no auditor’s letter)
2004: September 15
2005: September 16
2006: October 11
2007: October 30
2008: October 27
2009: October 23
2010: November 5
2011: November 7

One would almost think that the Trustees are shooting for mid-November this year to release the financials, after The D stops publishing for the Xmas break. In that way, the College’s accounts will escape the immediate scrutiny of the Dartmouth community. Nah, they wouldn’t really do that, would they?

Lest the administration seek to justify its sloppy tardiness with the proposition that producing accounts is increasingly complicated, keep in mind that the College is in the same regulatory environment as our Ivy sister schools. Though we have the smallest Ivy budget after Brown (whose financials came out on October 29), and we are the least complicated Ivy from a financial standpoint (fewest students), last year Dartmouth released its audited financials later than any other Ivy League school except for Princeton. Perhaps this year we are trying to be the worst of the best.