2012 Financial Update

Accounting Update

COMTA is supported by the fees for the accreditation process, Substantive Changes, and annual Sustaining Fees. The staff members of COMTA take our responsibility as stewards of those fees very seriously and have been working steadily for the past couple years to keep our fees at the levels set in January 2010 while still improving our service to schools and programs.

The Commission is pleased to report that the fiscal year that ended February 28, 2011 had an overall decrease of expenses of about 15% from the prior year. A surplus at the end of the year allowed us to restore reserve funds that had been depleted in the previous two fiscal years, which means better stability for COMTA and the institutions that rely on our accreditation. 

We are nearing the end of our fiscal year which ends February 29, 2012 and look forward to continuing to report decreasing expenses and improved stability. Some of our internal accounting procedures have been changing to improve control and oversight. One such change is being implemented this month – all fees are now being received directly by our accounting firm, Knutte & Associates. The small staff of COMTA makes division of tasks and checks-and-balances difficult, so we have enlisted the assistance of the staff at Knutte to receive and process payments on our behalf. All checks should still be made out to COMTA, then mailed to:

COMTA
c/o Cate Moulton
Knutte & Associates, PC
7900 S Cass Avenue
Darien, IL 60561

Questions about fees and payments should still be directed to COMTA staff. Please contact us at (202) 895-1518 or by email at lvaughn@comta.org and kzulaski@comta.org if you need assistance.

Appendix A.3 Fee Schedule – March 1, 2012 update

Although our goal has been to keep most of our fees level with our January 2010 amounts, we have a couple of changes to our fee schedule. The old schedule can be seen here for comparison and the new schedule is now listed on our Resources page. The two changes in fees are explained below:

1. The cost to conduct an appeal hearing for a denial or revocation of accreditaiton was originally calculated based on a smaller number of people serving on the appeal panel, and the fee has not been increased in many years. The fee is being increased to $10,000 to reflect the real costs estimated for conducting an appeal under the current policies and procedures.
2. The Accreditation Workshop fees are being adjusted to reflect the change from in-person sessions to online training courses. COMTA has partnered with MaxKnowledge to provide a combination of customized COMTA training materials along with courses that are applicable for all types of post-secondary schools, not just massage and aesthetics. The fees vary depending on how many courses are taken and whether the school is currently accredited or not. The fees listed on the fee schedule reflect that the maximum required for an applicant taking three online courses as required for new application or renewal will be no more than $500.  Currently accredited institutions and programs are eligible for
   discounted rates – please contact COMTA staff to get the VIP code for this year.

In comparing our fees to other agencies, please remember that as a specialized agency we are expected to not only evaluate the institutional administrative functions, but also conduct a more detailed evaluation of curriculum. All COMTA institutions and programs are reviewed in light of both administrative and curriculum/program specific criteria.