College accounts direction

This guidance is for FE colleges, sixth form colleges and designated institutions established or designated under the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 on preparing and submitting their annual report and financial statements (accounts) to ESFA.

The guidance and requirements below do not apply to Specialist FE colleges funded by ESFA as ‘Special post 16 institutions’ (SPIs) which are often described as FE colleges.

College accounts direction for the year 20232022 to 20242023

The Collegecollege accounts direction for the year 20232022 to 20242023 sets out ESFA’sESFA’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 updatesreclassification madeof the statutory FE sector in England to thecentral Collegegovernment accountson direction29 sinceNovember last2022 yearhas areresulted capturedin atseveral updates to the beginningcollege ofaccounts thisdirection, newplus edition.there are a small number of other changes.

The accounts direction outlines the requirements for each college to:

• prepare audited accounts to 31 July 20242023
• submit accounts and associated documents to ESFA by 31 December 20242023
• publish accounts on the college’s website as soon as possible after signing but no later than 31 January 20252024

Colleges must refer to the Collegecollege accounts direction 20232022 to 20242023 when preparing their accounts.

If colleges have concerns about meeting the 31 December submission deadline they should contact their DepartmentESFA forPlaced Education (DfE) Place 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 Recordrecord for the year

2022 to 2023

ESFA has issued an updated Financefinance Recordrecord for colleges to submit with their audited annual report and accounts for the college financial year 2022 to 2023.

2023 to 2024

ESFA will issue an updated Financefinance Recordrecord for colleges laternext this year, as appropriate, to submit with their audited annual report and accounts for the college financial year 2023 to 2024.

Submitting your documents

The above documents should be submitted to the ESFA usingvia DfEthe sign-in.College Pleasefinancial notedata thissubmissions is a new submission route replacing the previous IDAMS link.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, Financefinance Recordrecord 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 DfEthe sign-inIDAMS system they shouldcan followrequest thean instructionsaccount tousing Createthe a‘I DfEdon’t Sign-inhave an account.’ link on the login page.

ContactPlease uscomplete usingESFA’s theonline Customerenquiry Help Portalform if if you have any questions about your submission.