College accounts direction for the year 2022 to 2023
The college accounts direction for the year 2022 to 2023 sets out ESFA’s financial reporting requirements for further education colleges, sixth form colleges, and designated institutions established or designated under the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The reclassification of the statutory FE sector in England to central government on 29 November 2022 has resulted in several updates to the college accounts direction, plus there are a small number of other changes.changes
The accounts direction outlines the requirements for each college to:
- prepare audited accounts to 31 July 2023
- submit accounts and associated documents to ESFA by 31 December 2023
- publish accounts on the college’s website as soon as possible after signing but no later than 31 January 2024
Colleges must refer to the college accounts direction 2022 to 2023 when preparing their accounts.
If colleges have concerns about meeting the 31 December submission deadline they should contact their ESFA Placedterritorial Based Team contact as soon as possible and prior to the submission deadline.
Colleges, rather than their auditors, will need to submit all required documents by following the submission process below.
Finance record for the year
20222021 to 20232022
ESFA has issued an updated finance record for colleges to submit with their audited annual report and accounts for the college financial year 20222021 to 2023.2022.
This year, following feedback from the sector and consultation with colleges, we have updated the benchmarking schedule by rearranging the fields and introducing measures around curriculum planning. The aim has been to provide a set of benchmarks that is more useful to colleges without increasing the overall burden of completing the Finance Record.
20232022 to 20242023
ESFA will issue an updated finance record for colleges nextlater this year, as appropriate, to submit with their audited annual report and accounts for the college financial year 20232022 to 2024.2023.
Submitting your documents
The above documents should be submitted to the ESFA via the College financial data submissions portal.
Once a college has logged in they will be able to upload their documents by selecting the tile for ‘Annual financial statements return’. The four mandatory elements (audited financial statements, auditor’s management letter, finance record and the audit committee annual report) must initially be uploaded at the same time by colleges but can subsequently be resubmitted separately, if required. There are also options to upload subsidiary financial statements and additional supporting documentation if applicable. Colleges will receive email confirmation that their upload has been successful.
Further details are available within the submission portal. If the person responsible for submitting these documents does not have access to the IDAMS system they can request an account using the ‘I don’t have an account’ link on the login page.
Please complete ESFA’s online enquiry form if you have any questions about your submission.