New Year’s Eve: Champagne, Auld Lang’s Syne, fireworks and…the EFA deadline for submitting your audited accounts!
Auditing is the last thing you want to be thinking about when it comes to the night of bubbles and kisses at midnight.
However, if you’re an academy, multi- academy trust or free school, with a signed funding agreement during the accounting period 1st September 2015 to 31st August 2016, you have until 31st December 2016 to submit your audited accounts to the EFA.
But don’t panic! We understand that the run up to Christmas is an incredibly busy period. You’re juggling budgets, the assets register and health and safety record updates, all on top of the inevitable winter cold and Christmas productions!
We’ll take the pressure off by submitting your accounts for you, freeing up your time to deal with your (lengthy) to do list.
A helping hand to remove the pressure
Simply get in touch by 12th December to let us know you’d like us to act on your behalf. The information we will need before the end of term is:
- A full electronic signed copy of your 2016 audited financial statements.
- An electronic copy of your 2016 Value for Money Statement.
- Login credentials for your Secure Access site.
Once we have those, you can breathe a sigh of relief (and devote your attention to the myriad of other tasks you need to complete before Christmas), while our expert finance consultants take care of everything on your behalf. That means we’ll:
- Submit your 2016 financial statements and audit management letter to the EFA Information Exchange.
- Complete your accounts submission cover form.
- Formally review your financial statements and notify you of your carry forward fund balances.
- Submit your 2016 Value for Money statement.
- Advise you on publishing accounting data on your website.
So just get in touch with one of our team on 0115 975 2400 – or through our website using the button below - and we’ll take it from there.
Practical tips for DIYers
If you do want to do it yourself, then we’ve compiled some useful information to assist you.
- The process has changed since last year and the EFA has updated its guide to submitting your accounts and suggests that you read it before completing the online form and uploading your documents. The new form will be released after 30th November.
- The DfE are hosting a live question and answer session via webinar from 3pm to 4pm on 7th December. A panel will be available to answer your questions about the accounts return. You can submit questions in advance when you register.
- Register now for the webinar on 7th December.
- Don’t forget, your audited accounts aren’t the same as the academies account return which has until the 31st January to be completed, though of course we’re here to help you with that too. (If you’re looking for more information on this year’s accounts return, it’s worth checking out the academies sector annual report and accounts).
- Finally, if you’re eligible for top-up funding for your insurance premium, just use the academies funding claim form for the academic years 2015 to 2016 and 2016 to 2017 – You’re entitled to claim for policies of more than one year taken out before February 2014, but this is the final year that top-up funding is available.
And, if you have any questions during the process, do not hesitate to get in touch. It’s just one of the ways we that we work to help you navigate every aspect of the financial management process.
For an audit free NYE, get in touch with the experts at SAAF Education.