Compiled, Reviewed, or Audited? The Financial Statement Mistakes That Cost Florida Schools Their License

What the rule requires

Rule 6E-2.004 of the Florida Administrative Code sets the financial standards. For a provisional license, a school needs financial statements of the parent company “compiled, reviewed or audited in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.” A brand-new school without its own history uses the statements of its controlling owners, prepared by an independent CPA. For annual licensure and renewal, nondegree schools need at least a review, and colleges and universities need an audit.

The rule also sets the bar: current assets must exceed current liabilities, with “a positive net working capital and a profit or surplus for the prior year.”

What went wrong in September

• A health-care academy’s practical nursing program was denied partly because the CPA letter on the owner’s personal financials did not say whether they were compiled, reviewed, or audited — and the school had lost money in both 2024 and 2025.
• A one-person beauty school was pushed to November for submitting draft 2024 financials instead of final ones, alongside an unsigned financial form.
• A new applicant’s pro forma charged tuition every month instead of once per enrollment and did not depreciate its fixed assets. A commissioner caught both.
• A career academy reported over $288,000 in 2025 “tuition” for about three students. It turned out to be business-to-business training for employers mixed into school revenue. It was dropped to provisional.
• Several new universities were asked the same questions: parent-company cash versus school-level cash, monthly burn, and months of runway. One commissioner, looking at a school launching 23 programs: “I’m looking at 23 programs… and not a whole lot of cash.”

Keep the books separate

Separate books came up at least four times across the two days. A salon running an evening school under the same company was told to keep “excellent accounting records” separating salon and school revenue. A nonprofit applicant was warned that nonprofit status adds bookkeeping obligations. Employer training, contractor revenue, and an operating shop all have to be kept apart from student tuition.

A financial checklist for your next submission

• Ask your CPA for final statements, never drafts, and a cover letter that says “compiled,” “reviewed,” or “audited.”
• Match the level to your license: compilation, review, or audit as the rule requires.
• Show cash at the school level, not only at the parent.
• Charge tuition in your pro forma the way you actually bill: once per enrollment.
• Depreciate fixed assets.
• Separate tuition from salon, shop, contractor, or employer-training revenue.
• Sign every financial form before you submit it.
• If you took a cash infusion, keep internal financials that show it arriving.

How Atticus helps

Atticus™ keeps the school’s student ledger — every enrollment, every charge, every payment — separate from anything else the owner runs, so school revenue can be tied to actual students. It stores each CPA statement as received, with its date and source, and tracks which ones are final and which level they are. Before a submission, it checks that every required financial document is present, final, and signed.

Sources

Florida Administrative Code, Rule 6E-2.004, Standards and Procedures for Licensure →

Florida CIE, Form 604, Selected Financial Data →

Florida Commission for Independent Education, Commission meeting, Sept 24, 2026 (recording) →

Florida Commission for Independent Education, Commission meeting, Sept 25, 2026 (recording) →

This article is general guidance, not legal, financial, or accreditation advice. Regulatory requirements change and vary by accreditor, state, and program. Quotations from Commission meetings are taken from the public recordings and may contain minor transcription differences. Always confirm current rules with the Commission for Independent Education and your accreditor before acting.