Guidance

Academies chart of accounts and automating the accounts return

Financial data structure and guide for automating academy trust financial returns.

From:
Education and Skills Funding Agency
Published
14 May 2019
Last updated
22 March 2022 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Guide to adopting the academies chart of accounts

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Academies chart of accounts

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 466 KB

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Academies chart of accounts: account code guidance

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 5.37 MB

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Quick start guide to automating the academies accounts return and financial statements

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Guide to automating the academies accounts return

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Details

A webinar is available below which introduces the academies chart of account and automation of the accounts return.

Academies chart of account and automation webinar.

Introduction to the chart of accounts

The academies chart of accounts (CoA) is the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) standard for financial data that underpins the academies accounts return and budget forecast returns.

For more information, please view the introductory video below.

Chart of accounts introduction

Introduction to automation

Using the academies CoA, the department has developed automation technology to help reduce the burden of submitting your financial information. This technology enables you to electronically submit your trial balance data directly from your financial management software (FMS) to the department, where it will then be used to pre-populate up to 80% of your accounts return (AR).

For more information on how automation can help in the completion of the academies accounts return and what steps you need to take to use automation, please view the video below.

Automating your Academies Accounts Return

Academies chart of accounts and automation MS Teams sessions

We’re hosting monthly dial-in sessions in MS Teams for people to ask questions about the chart of accounts and automation.

To join, select the link at the time of the session.

You can also dial into these sessions using:

  • 020 3321 5238 (conference ID: 332 127 134# )

This page includes:

  • a guide for academy trusts about adopting the academies chart of accounts, which includes a summary of updates since the previous version released in May 2020
  • a spreadsheet with the academies chart of accounts, please refer to the ‘information’ worksheet to find out more about the structure of the chart of accounts
  • a spreadsheet providing guidance for each income and expenditure account code within the academies chart of accounts
  • a quick start guide to automating the academies accounts return
  • a guide for automating the academies accounts return

Introduction to the draft trust financial statements

Trusts who send automated data to populate the accounts return, may also now use this data to produce draft financial statements for the trust. The report is in testing this year, with the aim to obtain feedback ahead of a wider release in autumn 2022.

For more information, please click the following link to the Quick start guide to automating the accounts return and financial statements for more information.

Further enquiries

Chart of accounts enquiries

If you have further questions about the chart of accounts, please contact the DfE using the online enquiry form. Please put “Academies chart of accounts” at the top of your enquiry.

Automation enquiries

If you have further questions about automation, please contact us using the online enquiry form. Please put “Automation/API” at the top of your enquiry.

Published 14 May 2019
Last updated 22 March 2022 + show all updates

  1. We have updated this page with information about monthly dial-in sessions to ask questions about the DfE chart of accounts and automation.

  2. We have updated the guide to adopting the academies chart of accounts with new sections covering the chart of accounts structure and recharges, and an update to the guidance about Salix loans.

  3. We have updated this page with additional guidance for downloading automated draft financial statements. This is included within the 'Quick start guide to automating the academies accounts return and financial statements'.

  4. We have updated the "Quick start guide to automation" and the "Guide to automating the academies accounts return" for the 2020/21 accounts return. We have also updated the "Guide to adopting the academies chart of accounts" to explain the accounting treatment for COVID-19 funding in the 2020/21 accounts return.

  5. We have updated the academies chart of accounts for financial year September 2021 to August 2022.

  6. We have updated this page adding a new information video about automating the academies accounts return.

  7. Sections 3.4 and 3.5 of the chart of accounts guidance has been expanded to include new guidance to help trusts with specific issues raised.

  8. We have updated this page to add the guide to automation for academies accounts return for 2019/20.

  9. We have updated the academies chart of accounts for the academic year 2020/21.

  10. First published.