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Guidance

College management accounts good practice guide

How colleges can report in-year financial performance.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
5 July 2021
Last updated:
26 March 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated 'Management accounts: PowerPoint presentation model' and 'Management accounts: Word document model'. Added 'Management accounts: tables', which replaces 'Management accounts: appendices model' and 'Management accounts: Word document model – supplementary appendices'.

  2. Added 'FE Commissioner Benchmarks: definitions'.

  3. We have updated the good practice guide for clarity. We have also made updates to the model templates. These reflect changed terminology, the publication of the College Financial Handbook, the impact of policy changes such as devolution, and the continued impact of reclassification of colleges into the public sector. The appendices now include an example of contribution analysis.

  4. In light of the ONS decision to reclassify colleges as public sector bodies, the FEC team has updated the college management accounts good practice guide to reflect relevant changes arising from reclassification.

  5. Revised FEC Benchmark Definitions has been added.

  6. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Management accounts: good practice guide for colleges

HTML

Management accounts: PowerPoint presentation model

MS PowerPoint Presentation, 131 KB

Management accounts: Word document model

MS Word Document, 939 KB

Management accounts: tables

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 130 KB

FE Commissioner benchmarks: definitions

PDF, 262 KB, 4 pages

Details

This guide is for college:

  • chief financial officers
  • finance teams

It provides:

  • a suggested guide for preparing college management accounts
  • models in different formats that you can use to present your accounts
  • FE Commissioner benchmarks: definitions

Instructions on how to use the models are available in ‘Management accounts: Word document model’. The models are not compulsory. Rather than copy them, you should change them to meet your requirements.

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