Academies chart of accounts and automating the accounts return

Academies accounts return (AR 2021/22) - for trusts using automation

• 1 September 2022 for trusts to download their draft trusts financial statements
• 18 October 2022 the form will be available for all trusts to complete the AR, the deadline for AR submission is 19 January 2023

AR && financial statements login

Chart of accounts and automation webinar

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 arehost 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.

• Wednesday 17 August 2022 11am

• Wednesday 21 SeptemberDecember 2022 11am

• WednesdayTuesday 1910 OctoberJanuary 20222023 11am

• Wednesday 16 November 2022 11am

• Wednesday 21 December 2022 11am

You can also dial into these sessions using:

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

Webinars: Academies chart of accounts and automation

We arealso hostinghost webinars in whichwhere we willpresent be presenting an introduction to the academies chart of accounts and automation.

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

• ThursdayTuesday 18th24th AugustJanuary 20222023 3pm

• Thursday 15th September 2022 3pm

• Thursday 20th October 2022 3pm - Cancelled due to presenting at Schools North East White Paper Academisation event

• Thursday 17th November 2022 3pm - Cancelled due to attending the Academies Show

• Thursday 15th December 2022 3pm

You can also dial into these sessions using:

• 020 3321 5238 (conference ID: 191 510 554# )

More dates will be added in early 2023.

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.