EFIS Instructions
2025-26
2025-26 Estimates
Schedules
Schedule 5

Schedule 5 - Detail of Accumulated Operating Surplus/(Deficit)

The balance of this schedule is used to report the accumulated operating surplus or deficit on the Statement of Financial Position, in accordance with Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) section PS 1201, paragraph 39. This amount is defined as the residual interest in the school boards’ assets after deducting liabilities.

The schedule tracks the portion of the accumulated surplus/deficit in various components for budget compliance purposes, that is:

  • Available for Compliance - Unappropriated
  • Available for Compliance - Internally Appropriated
  • Unavailable for Compliance

This information is required for the determination of the board’s compliance with the balanced budget provision of the Education Act, section 231(1), which became effective on September 1, 2010.

Available for Compliance - Unappropriated

This portion of the surplus, if any, is available to address any in-year deficit, as calculated in the Compliance Report, Balanced Budget Determination.

Available for Compliance - Internally Appropriated

This portion of the surplus, if any, is available to address any in-year deficit, as calculated in the Compliance Report, Balanced Budget Determination. Accumulated surplus in this section is normally restricted/appropriated for specific purposes.

Unavailable for Compliance

This portion of the surplus, if any, is not available to address any in-year deficit, as calculated in the Compliance Report, Balanced Budget Determination.

Column Descriptions:

Column 1: Balance at September 1

September 1, 2025 opening balances are populated from the 2024-25 board-submitted Revised Estimates closing balances on Schedule 5. School boards can update the amounts to the latest data.

Column 2: Transfer to Committed Capital or Committed Sinking Fund Interest Earned or ARO Abatement

This column is to report the transfer of internally restricted surpluses, school generated funds in the accumulated surplus, or the opening balance of the unappropriated operating accumulated surplus, to the lines for committed capital projects (item 2.21.1), revenues recognized for land (item 4.7), committed sinking fund interest earned (item 2.20.1), or asset retirement obligations (item 4.6) to support capital asset construction/acquisition, to address future amortization of assets financed with sinking fund debentures, or to address ARO abatement that does not have an external funding source. The committed amount will be used to offset the amortization of the unsupported portion of the related depreciable assets or classified as unavailable for compliance for related non-depreciable assets or asset retirement obligations. In the event that the related asset is disposed, any remaining amount should be transferred back to available for compliance surpluses in this column for the school board’s appropriation. The only exception would be the rare case of disposal of an asset that had been funded by school generated funds that had previously been recognized in revenue, which should be returned to item 4.4; due to the allowable data format of item 4.4, which only permits negative values in column 2, a school board in this situation should contact the ministry for assistance.

Column 3: In-Year Increase (Decrease)

In column 3, items 2.1.1 to 2.10.10, and 2.30.1 to 2.30.5, enter the portion of the annual surplus/deficit that the school board wishes to allocate to each internally appropriated accumulated surplus category. Any remaining annual surplus/deficit will be automatically populated at item 1.1. Therefore, to transfer some of the in-year operating surplus (from item 1.1) to another line, only enter the positive amount on the line that is being transferred to. The transfer from will automatically be deducted from item 1.1 in the absence of an offsetting negative entry at items 2.1.1 to 2.30.5.

Row Descriptions:

Items 2.10.1 to 2.10.10: Other Purposes - Operating

These rows are available so that school boards may set aside amounts to use in future years for specific operating purposes.

Item 2.20.1: Committed Sinking Fund Interest Earned

Data for this item comes from Schedule 5.5, Committed Sinking Fund Interest Earned. For a detailed explanation of this line item, see the instructions for Schedule 5.5. This amount represents the earnings on sinking fund assets that will be used to address the amortization expense for assets funded by sinking fund debentures.

Please note that the amounts on this line will not change even if the corresponding sinking fund debenture is retired or repaid, as this amount was set aside to cover the amortization related to the unsupported portion of the asset financed using the sinking fund debenture. However, if the corresponding asset is disposed, then the related amount on this line should be released.

Item 2.21.1: Committed Capital Projects

Data for this item comes from Schedule 5.5, Committed Capital Amounts Funded by Accumulated Surplus. School boards should report the amount of the accumulated surplus committed to fund capital projects under contractual obligation. For detailed explanation of this line item, see the instructions for Schedule 5.5.

Items 2.30.1 to 2.30.5: Other Purposes - Capital

These rows are available so that school boards may set aside amounts to use in future years on specific capital projects. This will indicate that the surplus will be applied against the amortization expense of those projects in future years. In the year that funds are legally committed to the project, decrease the amount on the Other Purposes - Capital line and increase the amount at item 2.21.1 (Committed Capital Projects) by the same amount; the increase to item 2.21.1 is entered on Schedule 5.5. For more details, see instructions for Schedule 5.5.

Item 4.1.1: Employee Future Benefits - Retirement Gratuity Liability

The unfunded liabilities at September 1, 2025 are from Schedule 10G-2, item 1.4, and can be adjusted by school boards where appropriate. This opening unfunded liability is to be amortized over the adjusted Employee Average Remaining Service Life (EARSL) of eligible employees under the plan, or a shorter period reported on Schedule 10G-2, item 1.5. The amortized amount in col. 3 is brought in to the calculation of compliance expenses through Schedule 10ADJ.

Item 4.1.3: Employee Future Benefits - Retirement Health, Dental, Life Insurance Plans, etc.

The unfunded liabilities at September 1, 2025 are from Schedule 10G-2, item 2.4, and can be adjusted by school boards where appropriate. This opening unfunded liability is to be amortized over the number of remaining years of the amortization period or a shorter period reported on Schedule 10G-2, item 2.5. The amortized amount in col. 3 is brought in to the calculation of compliance expenses through Schedule 10ADJ. For most school boards, the full amount has now been fully amortized into compliance and nothing further is required on this line.

Item 4.1.4: Employee Future Benefits - other than retirement gratuity

The in-year expense related to other employee future benefits was phased into compliance over 4 years starting in 2012-13, so that by 2015-16 the full PSAB expense is included for compliance purposes. If a school board has outstanding unfunded liabilities (opening balance) that they would like to address using the in-year surplus, they should input the amounts in column 23 of Schedule 10ADJ. The total from Schedule 10ADJ, column 23, will be brought into column 3 of this line on Schedule 5.

Item 4.6: Asset Retirement Obligations

This line represents the accumulated deficit from all expenses and revenues related to asset retirement obligations (ARO) that the school board has recognized since adoption of PS 3280. At the time of adoption (September 1, 2022), the opening balance in column 1 was equal to the opening ARO liability from Schedule 5.7 less the opening net book value of TCA-ARO from Schedule 3E. However, over time the values on this line may diverge from the values on Schedules 3E and 5.7, as those schedules represent actual asset and liability amounts while the line on Schedule 5 is the accumulated revenues and expenses. For example, if a school board conducted ARO abatement and did not receive corresponding revenue (or transfer opening accumulated surplus to this line using column 2), the liability on Schedule 5.7 would decrease but there would be no effect on Schedule 5. If a school board has always had revenues to support ARO abatement spending (or transferred accumulated surplus to this row using column 2), then the opening balance on this line would be equal to the difference between Schedule 5.7 ARO opening balance and (Schedule 3E TCA-ARO NBV opening balance + Schedule 3D AHFS-ARO opening balance).

The value in column 3 (In-Year Increase (Decrease)) is calculated as the total in-year ARO revenues (Schedule 3A, item 1.3.2, column 20 less column 19 + Schedule 3A, item 1.3.3, column 20 + Schedule 9, item 8.51) less ARO expenses (Schedule 10ADJ, column 28, item 90).

Item 4.7: Revenues Recognized for Land

The values on this row come from Schedule 5.6, Revenues Recognized for Land Continuity, and detailed instructions are provided in that section.

Item 4.8: Liability for Contaminated Sites

Item 4.8 tracks the liability for contaminated sites as at September 1, 2014. As outlined in Memorandum 2014: SB13, school boards recorded the initial liability as an adjustment to the opening accumulated surplus in the 2014-15 Financial Statements. The initial liability is excluded from compliance and the remaining balance as of August 31, 2025 is populated on item 4.8 based on the 2024-25 board-submitted Revised Estimates. School boards can update the amount to the latest data. The opening liability may be reduced by entering a positive value in column 3. The liability is addressed if the school board sets aside a portion of their accumulated surplus for this purpose. It does not necessarily agree to any cash payments made against the liability. There may be a timing difference between setting aside accumulated surplus to address the liability, and paying down the liability in cash. Any additional expenses incurred in the year will be included in compliance, and are to be entered on Schedule 10, item 78, column 10 (Other Expenses - Other Non-Operating) and Schedule 10.7, column 2.2, instead of here. Item 4.8, column 3, will only accept positive values since only the initial liability is excluded from compliance.

Adjustments for employee future benefits, committed sinking fund interest and committed capital projects

The calculation of in-year deficit under O. Reg 488/10 (Determination of Boards’ Surpluses and Deficits) includes school boards’ in-year operating results as well as three accounting adjustments:

  • The amortization of accumulated surplus to offset the amortization of unfunded employee future benefits including retirement gratuities, retirement health, dental, life insurance plans, and other than retirement gratuity;

  • The amortization of accumulated surplus to offset the amortization expense of committed capital spending from boards’ accumulated surplus;

  • The amortization of accumulated surplus set aside to offset the difference between sinking fund interest earned and the amortization expense of the assets supported by the sinking fund debentures. These three accounting adjustments are excluded from the calculation of the in-year deficit for balanced budget compliance purposes (calculated under O. Reg 488/10).

These three accounting adjustments are excluded from the calculation of the in-year deficit for balanced budget compliance purposes (calculated under O. Reg 488/10).

Item 2.1.2 Employee Future Benefits Adjustment excludes the in-year deficit and corresponding portion of accumulated surplus from the calculation of in-year and accumulated surplus available for compliance for balanced budget compliance purposes. See description of line 4.1.2 below for the calculation of the amount.

Item 4.1.2 Employee Future Benefits Adj moves the portion of accumulated surplus as well as the in-year deficit to the Total Accumulated Surplus (Deficit) Unavailable for Compliance section. The adjustment is calculated as the greater of Schedule 5, column 3, item 2.1.1 and the negative of (column 3, items 4.1.1 + 4.1.3 + 4.1.4), 0 if positive.

Item 2.20.2 Sinking Fund interest earned Adjustment excludes in-year deficit and corresponding portion of accumulated surplus from the Total Accumulated Surplus (Deficit) Available for Compliance, and item 4.3 Sinking Fund interest earned Adj moves the adjustment to Total Accumulated Surplus (Deficit) Unavailable for Compliance, to exclude the balance from the calculation of in-year deficit for balanced budget compliance purposes.

Item 2.21.2 Committed Capital Projects Adjustment in the Total Accumulated Surplus (Deficit) Available for Compliance section and item 4.5, Committed Capital Projects Adj in the Total Accumulated Surplus (Deficit) Unavailable for Compliance section exclude the in-year deficit and corresponding portion of accumulated surplus from the calculation of in-year and accumulated surplus available for compliance for balanced budget compliance purposes.

Approved Committed Capital Projects Adj includes the amortization related to committed capital projects incurred on or:

  • before August 31, 2010

    • Schedule 5.5, column 6, Pre-September 1, 2010 projects

  • after September 1, 2010, and approved by the ministry

    • Schedule 5.5, column 6, Ministry approved projects on or after September 1, 2010

  • after September 1, 2010, but before September 1, 2019, and not approved by the ministry

    • Schedule 5.5, column 6, Non-ministry approved projects between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2019

Relationship to other schedules:

  • The amount calculated as the in-year increase/decrease in column 3 on Schedule 5, item 4.2 (Interest to be Accrued) comes from Schedule 10ADJ, column 21 total minus Schedule 10ADJ, column 21, item 79 minus Schedule 10ADJ, column 21, item 78.

  • Amortization of the Employee Future Benefits - retirement gratuity liability in column 3 of item 4.1.1 is populated from Schedule 10G-2, item 1.6, column 15.

  • Amortization of the Employee Future Benefits - Retirement Health, Dental, Life Insurance Plans in column 3 of item 4.1.3 is populated from Schedule 10G-2, item 2.6, column 16.

  • Change in the unfunded liability of Employee Future benefits - other than retirement gratuity liability in column 3 of item 4.1.4 is populated from Schedule 10ADJ, column 23 total.

  • The opening balances in column 1 for items 4.1.1 and 4.1.3 come from Schedule 10G-2, columns 15 and 16 at items 1.4 and 2.4, respectively.

  • The amount calculated as the in-year increase/decrease on Schedule 5 for School Generated Funds (SGF) (item 4.4) is the total revenue from SGF on Schedule 9, item 4 less the total expenses related to SGF on Schedule 10, item 79, column 20, less any supported SGF land expenditures in the year from Schedule 3A, item 3.1, column 14.

  • The amount input at in-year increase/decrease on Schedule 5 for Liability for Contaminated Sites (item 4.8) is populated to Schedule 10ADJ, column 21, item 78.

Last updated on
Schedule 3GSchedule 5.1