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
151 AugustSeptember 2022 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

GuideUser toguide adoptingfor automating the academies chartaccounts ofreturn accountsand draft financial statements

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AcademiesDraft charttrust offinancial accountsstatements 2022-232021/22

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 15.4307 MBKB

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Guide to adopting the academies chart of accounts

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Academies chart of accounts 2021-222022-23

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 46615.4 KBMB

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Academies chart of accounts:accounts account code guidance2021-22

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 5.37466 MBKB

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

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User guide for automating the academies accounts return

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DraftAcademies trustchart financialof statementsaccounts: 2021/22account code guidance

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 3075.43 KBMB

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.
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Quick start guide to automating the academies accounts return and financial statements

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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.

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).

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 trust financial statements for the trust. The template is now available to view on this page and trusts will able to populate it, using the automation functionality, from early September.

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

Dial-in sessions: Academies chart of accounts and automation

We are 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# )

Webinars: Academies chart of accounts and automation

We are hosting webinars in which we will be presenting an introduction to the academies 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: 191 510 554# )

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
  • two academies chart of accounts spreadsheets for financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23, 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 user guide for automating the academies accounts return
  • the draft trust financial statements statement template

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 151 AugustSeptember 2022 + show all updates

  1. Updates include - updated 'Use guide for automation of the accounts return and draft financial statements; - updated 'Academies account code guidance'

  2. We have added webinar dates for academies chart of accounts and automation introductory presentations.

  3. We have updated this page with an Excel template that uses a trust’s automated data to produce draft financial statements. We have also added to the change control sheet on the 'Academies chart of accounts 22-23' file to delete one account code.

  4. We have updated this page with the updated academies chart of accounts (CoA) for 2022/23 and guide.

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

  6. 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.

  7. 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'.

  8. 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.

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

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

  11. 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.

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

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

  14. First published.