This post will be the second in our series looking at the rulemaking proposed on December 9, 2015 on “Cemetery Annual Financial Reports; Commercial Crime Coverage; and Permanent Maintenance Fund Contributions.” Today’s post looks at the changes to the annual financial reporting requirements.

Under the proposed rulemaking, every cemetery must file an annual financial report with the Division of Cemeteries (“Division”) within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year (a 15-day increase from the previous law). This report must include a completed DOS-415 and any Form 990 filed by the cemetery in the preceding calendar year, and must be signed by at least two officers or directors of the cemetery corporation. Medium cemeteries must also file a CPA financial report, while large and non-traditional cemeteries must file a CPA audit. The content requirements for these reports are specified at length in the regulation, so please refer to them for details.

Perhaps most importantly, there is a provision which allows the Division, on application by a medium or large cemetery, to modify the reporting requirements if said cemetery can show that the cost of compliance is onerous and unreasonable. It also empowers the Division to impose the stricter requirements of large and non-traditional cemeteries on small or medium cemeteries suspected of financial irregularities or non-compliance.

As a side note, the manner of making these submissions (mail, electronically, etc.) is left to the discretion of the Division, and thus can be more easily changed as needed in the future.