Guidance

College accounts direction

Guidance on preparing and submitting annual report and financial statements (accounts) to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

Applies to England

Documents

College accounts direction 2022 to 2023

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email ESFA.GOVUK-ENQUIRIES@education.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Finance record for 2022 to 2023

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If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email ESFA.GOVUK-ENQUIRIES@education.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Letter to college accounting officers: August 2020

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If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email ESFA.GOVUK-ENQUIRIES@education.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

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 2023 to 2024

The College accounts direction for the year 2023 to 2024 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 updates made to the College accounts direction since last year are captured at the beginning of this new edition.

The accounts direction outlines the requirements for each college to:

  • prepare audited accounts to 31 July 2024
  • submit accounts and associated documents to ESFA by 31 December 2024
  • publish accounts on the college’s website as soon as possible after signing but no later than 31 January 2025

Colleges must refer to the College accounts direction 2023 to 2024 when preparing their accounts.

If colleges have concerns about meeting the 31 December submission deadline they should contact their Department for 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 Record for the year

2022 to 2023

ESFA has issued an updated Finance Record 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 Finance Record for colleges later 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 using DfE sign-in. Please note this is a new submission route replacing the previous IDAMS link.

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 DfE sign-in they should follow the instructions to Create a DfE Sign-in account.

Contact us using the Customer Help Portal if you have any questions about your submission.

Published 2 March 2017
Last updated 27 March 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added 'College accounts direction 2023 to 2024', updated 'Proposed timeline for upcoming college financial returns' and updated the DfE sign-in link for submissions.

  2. We've published the finance record for 2022 to 2023 and have updated the proposed timeline for upcoming college financial returns.

  3. We have published the college accounts direction for 2022 to 2023. We have also updated the proposed timeline for upcoming financial returns.

  4. Added Finance record for 2021 to 2022

  5. We have published the college accounts direction for 2021 to 2022. A full list of changes is provided in the summary.

  6. We have updated the Finance Record template and the proposed timeline for upcoming college financial returns.

  7. We have published the College Accounts Direction for the year 2020 to 2021. You can read the changes made to this document in the "What's changed in the 2021 edition" section.

  8. We have published an updated version of the finance record for 2019 to 2020. Details of the update are on the contents page of the finance record under ‘version control’.

  9. We have published the finance record for colleges to submit with their audited annual report and accounts for the college financial year 2019 to 2020, and version 2 of the college accounts direction. A list of changes made can be found in the document.

  10. We have published our proposed timeline for college financial returns during 2020 to 2021.

  11. We have updated this page to reflect the changes in deadlines for colleges to submit their documents to ESFA. The deadline for colleges to submit these documents to ESFA has now been extended to 31 January 2021. Colleges will then have until 28 February 2021 to publish their audited accounts on their website.

  12. We have published the college accounts direction for 2019 to 2020.

  13. Update to gov.uk page to provide colleges with details of the submission arrangements for the Financial Statements by the 31st December 19.

  14. We have published the college finance record template.

  15. We have published the college accounts direction for 2018 to 2019.

  16. We have updated the finance record template 2018.

  17. We have published the college finance record for 2017 to 2018, which further education and sixth-form colleges must complete and return to ESFA by 31 December 2018.

  18. College accounts direction for 2017 to 2018 has now been added.

  19. Updated section added Submitting your accounts and associated documents

  20. We've now published the finance record 2016 to 2017 template.

  21. First published.