This FAQ was prepared for recipients of the Support — Operate grant by the Manitoba Arts Council.

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Table of Contents

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Understanding the purpose of CADAC

What is CADAC?

CADAC (Canada Arts Data / Données sur les arts au Canada) is a web-based application where arts organizations can enter their financial and statistical information. This financial data can then be accessed by arts funders (like the Manitoba Arts Council) to report on the health of the arts sector and the impact of the arts in our communities.

Arts organizations can also access their own historical data, run reports on their changes over time, and see comparative reports to all similar organizations in the database.

Why does MAC need us to use CADAC?

The majority of MAC’s funding goes toward the operating costs of arts organizations, which come in all sizes and artistic disciplines. In order to understand the impact of our funding, we need to gather information from all these different organizations in a standardized way. CADAC provides these standardized forms for arts organizations across the country.

When you provide your data in CADAC, MAC is able to see how your organization, and others like yours, transforms the grant money it receives into tangible impacts for the province and the country.

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Financial statements

Where do I upload my organization’s financial statements?

At the bottom of the financial form; scroll all the way down.

Why is CADAC asking for changes to our financial statements?

There could be a few reasons as to why CADAC isn’t accepting your financial statements:

• Check that the financial statements you are trying to submit cover your organization’s full fiscal year.
• Check that you have uploaded the correct year of financial statements to the corresponding financial form.
• Check that your financial statements are complete. Financial statements must include, at bare minimum:
  • An income statement (a.k.a. profit and loss statement), which reports all your revenues and expenses and shows whether you ended the year with a profit or a loss.
  • A statement of financial position (a.k.a. balance sheet), which shows:
    • all your assets (the value of everything the organization owns, like bank accounts, equipment, property);
    • your liabilities (everything your organization owes to others, like unpaid bills, loans, credit card debt); and
    • your net assets (the net worth of the organization, which can be thought of as your accumulated surplus, retained earnings, or equity).
  • Signatures from two board members of the organization to show that they are the official records of the organization.

If you are still having trouble, please contact CADAC Support.

CADAC says we should have funders listed in our financial statements. What does that mean?

As a grant recipient, your organization gets part of its revenue from public funders (like the Manitoba Arts Council). We need to see that the grants you’ve received are recorded correctly. The next time you have your statements prepared, ask your accountant to include a list of the grant amounts you’ve received from each funder.

Do we need to have an audit of our finances?

It depends on the amount you are awarded from a Support – Operate grant. This amount does not include grants you receive through other MAC programs.

• If you are awarded over $100,000 per year from a MAC Operate grant, you must provide audited statements.
• If you are awarded between $35,001 and $100,000 per year from a MAC Operate grant, you can provide either:
  • a review engagement; or
  • audited statements.
• If you are awarded $35,000 or less per year from a MAC Operate grant, you can provide either:
  • internally prepared statements; or
  • a review engagement; or
  • audited statements.

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CADAC financial form

What is the CADAC financial form?

The financial form in CADAC breaks down the information in your organization’s financial statements into standard categories that can then be pulled into reports about the financial health and impacts of the arts sector. The same CADAC form is used by arts organizations across Canada.

We’re already providing MAC with our financial statements. Why do we also need to fill out the CADAC financial form?

No two organizations’ financial statements are the same. To understand how the arts sector is doing in the whole province, or the whole country, there must be a standardized way of capturing the financial activities of the sector. The CADAC forms give us this standard format.

Can I work offline and then upload it all at once?

Yes! You can download an Excel sheet of the financial form from your CADAC account, work on it offline, and then upload it back into CADAC when you are ready.

The Excel sheet will contain multiple years (past, present, and future). You can input more than one year’s information in the one Excel file.

After you upload the Excel file, a draft version of the financial form is automatically populated with the information. You will then need to submit the form.

If there are multiple draft forms because you worked on multiple years, submit each draft in chronological order.

See pages 21-27 in CADAC’s “Using CADAC as an Arts Organization” user guide for step-by-step instructions.

Can I add explanations into the financial forms?

Yes, please do! Every line in the form has a blue envelope icon you can click to add notes. See page 64 in CADAC’s “Using CADAC as an Arts Organization” user guide for step-by-step instructions.

What do the line numbers mean in the CADAC Financial Form?

The financial form consists of four large sections that are numbered in a specific way:

• 4000s – Revenues
• 5000s – Expenses
• 6000s to 6140 – Surplus or (Deficit)
• 6250 to 6345 – Statement of Financial Position / Balance Sheet

Each section is further broken down into subsections. For a list of subsections and what they mean, see appendix 1.

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CADAC statistical form

What is the statistical form?

The statistical form is where you tell us how many events and activities your organization hosted, the number of people that attended or participated in your events and activities, and the number of artists, staff and volunteers that you engaged.

Why do we have to complete the statistical form?

When you input your statistical information, we can combine it with other Manitoba arts organizations to get a full picture of the arts activity in the province.

Arts funders need to be able to show how your organization, and others like yours, transforms the grant money it receives into tangible impacts for the province and the country.

Your stats help MAC advocate for increased funding for the arts sector.

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Updating or correcting data in CADAC

Why is CADAC asking for updates?

CADAC will email you if they have questions related to reconciling your forms with your financial statements.

You will need to update your forms after each fiscal year end when you have new financial statements. CADAC will email you if you haven’t updated your forms within six months of your fiscal year end.

What is CADAC reconciliation?

Once you submit a financial form, the CADAC team then checks (reconciles) your information to make sure it matches your financial statements. That way, we know that the information is correct and can be used by arts funders to advocate for more support for the arts sector.

Can more than one person work on our CADAC forms?

Yes! You can create multiple users for your organization.

In which column do I enter our information?

When editing your financial or statistical information online, you must select and edit one fiscal year at a time.

Once you click on the year you wish to edit, you will see a form with three columns:

• Left: the previous year
• Centre: the year you selected
• Right: the next year

You will only be able to edit the centre column in this view.

To edit the data for a different year, you must go back and select the year in question.

If you are editing the form for the very first year available, you will see two columns:

• Left: the year you selected
• Right: the next year

You will be editing the column to the left.

Why does the “status” of our form keep changing? What do the statuses mean?

The status of your form will change as your forms are reconciled. The different statuses are:

• New: You have not yet started working on the form.
• Draft:  You have entered information and have saved it but you have not yet submitted the form to CADAC for review.
• Submitted: The form has been submitted to CADAC for review.
• Submitted + Draft: You have updated and saved changes to a form that was previously submitted. The updated information has not yet been submitted for review.
• Under review: CADAC has begun their review of the financial form. In this state the form can not be edited by an arts organization.
• Revise: Changes are needed in your form. CADAC and/or MAC have left instructions in the form for you to review.
• Revise + Draft: You have started revisions and saved the form but have not yet re-submitted it to CADAC.
• Re-Submitted: You have revised and addressed all feedback provided and have again submitted your form for review.
• Locked: CADAC has reconciled the financial form and it is now locked. No further edits can be made to the form.

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Financial terminology

I’m not familiar with accounting language. Is there a simpler way to understand CADAC?

If you understand your organization’s budget for the year, you can fill in the CADAC financial form.

If you understand what kind of activities your organization does in a year, you can fill in the CADAC statistical form.

The trick to filing out the CADAC financial form is to match the information in your organization’s financial statements to the CADAC form’s broad categories and then decide from there which subsections your information fits into. See appendix 1 for more information on the categories.

What is the difference between the financial form and financial statements?

“Financial statements” is an accounting term and legal name for your organization’s official year-end records of its financial activity.

The financial form in CADAC breaks down the information in your organization’s financial statements into standard categories that can then be pulled into reports about the financial health and impacts of the arts sector. The same CADAC form is used by arts organizations across Canada.

What is the difference between an audit, a review engagement, and internally-prepared financial statements?

Audited financial statements are created by an accountant. The accountant reviews and tests the completeness of your financial records and your adherence to financial management policies. The accountant also compiles your financial records for the year into financial statements.

Review engagements of financial statements are created by an accountant. The accountant compiles your financial records for the year into financial statements.

Internally-prepared financial statements are created by bookkeeper, treasurer, or other qualified person within your organization. Your financial records are compiled for the year into financial statements.

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Appendix 1: Structure of the CADAC Financial Form

The financial form consists of four large numbered sections: 4000s — Revenues, 5000s — Expenses, 6000s to 6140 — Surplus or (Deficit), and 6250 to 6345 — Statement of Financial Position / Balance Sheet.

Line number 4000s — Revenues: Every kind of revenue your organization earned will be entered somewhere in this section. Quick tip: Your total revenues at line 4700 should match your total revenues on your income statement in your financial statements.

• 4100s — Earned revenue: Everything you sold or charged to customers, like ticket sales, merchandise, workshop fees, membership dues, rental fees, etc.
• 4200s — Net investment income: Bank interest earned, investment interest, etc.
• 4300s — Private sector revenue: All donations, in-kind donations, fundraising monies, and grants received from foundations.
• 4400s & 4500s — Public sector revenue: All government grants. This section is broken down into federal, provincial, and municipal grants, and then broken down even further into specific funders and types of grants.
• 4600s — Other revenue: Income from a parent organization or from a stabilization organization.

Line number 5000s — Expenses: Every kind of expense your organization incurred will be entered somewhere in this section. Quick tip: Your total expenses at line 5600 should match your total expenses on your income statement in your financial statements.

• 5100s — Artistic expenses: This section includes almost all costs related to your programming, including exhibitions, productions, workshops, festivals, artists fees, artistic salaries, etc.
• 5200s — Facility operating expenses: These are the costs to run your event space (if you have one).
• 5300s — Marketing and communications expenses: All expenses for marketing, publicity, and promotions.
• 5400s — Fundraising expenses: Costs related to fundraising for your organization.
• 5500s — Administration expenses: Costs to administer the organization, including admin staff, accounting fees, office rent, and office expenses.

Line number 6000s to 6140 — Surplus or (deficit): Many of the lines in this section are automatically totalled from the sections above. This section shows your total profit or loss for the year. Quick tip: the amount at line 6140 should match your profit/loss in your financial statements.

• 6215 — Accumulated surplus or (deficit): Calculates your accumulated surplus from previous years. Quick tip: This amount should match your equity/net assets in your financial statements.

Line number 6250 to 6345 — Statement of Financial Position / Balance Sheet: Enter all of the items listed in the statement of financial position (a.k.a. balance sheet) of your organization’s financial statements.

• 6255 to 6275 — Assets: Assets are everything your organization owns, such as amounts in the bank, the value of equipment, buildings, land, inventory.
• 6285 to 6300 — Liabilities: Liabilities are everything that your organization owes to others, like loans and unpaid bills, and any cash/grants that are deferred to next year.
• 6305-6340 — Net assets: This is the net worth of the whole organization. It is what is left of the assets when you minus the liabilities. Some folks think of it as their accumulated surplus. Put any of your net asset amounts that are reserved for something specific in line 6320 Internally designated funds. Otherwise, put them in line 6310, unrestricted net assets.

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Appendix 2: Structure of the CADAC Statistical Form

The statistical form consists of eight parts:

Line number 1000 — Public activity: This section summarizes all of the performances, exhibitions, film / video / media screenings, and community arts activities of an arts organization (do not include workshops, which go in section 2000).

• Public performances and literary readings: Input the number of performances and readings you produced, co-produced, and/or presented. Include the number of works that were performed.
• Exhibitions: Input the number you organized and curated, co-produced, and/or borrowed. Include the number of artists exhibited.
• Film / video / video screenings: Input the number you presented and/or co-presented to the public.
• Community art projects: Input the number you presented and/or co-presented to the public.

Line number 1500 — Public attendance and participation: This section captures the different ways in which the public engages and participates with an arts organization as well as attendances to Public Activity recorded above (do not include workshops, which go in section 2000).

• Public performances and literary readings: Input the attendance at performances and readings you produced and/or presented.
• Exhibitions: Input the attendance at exhibitions you organized and curated.
• Film / video / video screenings: Input the attendance at screenings you presented to the public.
• Community art projects: Input the number of community participants and/or attendance at community arts projects you presented to the public.
• Subscribers and ticket sales: Input the number of tickets sold.

Line number 1730 — Digital data: This section is for a summary of any activities conducted through digital platforms.

Line number 1800 — New works: Input the number of new works created by or commissioned from Canadian artists that your organization presented or exhibited.

Line number 1900 — Arts and cultural service organizations: This section is for arts service organizations only. Input the number of professional development activities created and/or organized for your membership.

Line number 2000 — Arts education and arts learning activities / programs: Input audience engagement activities (such as artist talks), workshops, and classes for adults, children and youth. Include the number of artists engaged.

Line number 2170 — Other: This section is to summarize an arts organization’s artist run centers and artists in residence.

Line number 2300 — Artists, staffing & volunteers: Input the number of artists paid, number of staff and volunteers engaged with the arts organization.