Internal Controls in Charter Schools: Current Perceptions and Opportunities for Improvement

ABSTRACT We survey 137 charter school administrators and 129 board members and find that U.S. charter school internal controls are perceived to be relatively strong overall. However, board independence, board communication of internal control responsibilities to school personnel, lines of communication between the board and school personnel, and reporting lines that allow the board to assess the school’s activities are perceived to be weakest in comparison to other internal controls. We also find that board members have more positive views than administrators regarding the strength of several of the internal controls examined. We discuss implications and several avenues for future research.