Appendix A
To: Head Teachers of Full Cheque Book Schools
Dear Colleague,
FINANCIAL END OF YEAR PROCEDURES 2017/2018
At the end of each financial year, the Chief Finance Officer has the responsibility for preparing the annual accounts for the City Council. The guidance notes in Appendix A summarises the key actions to be taken by full cheque book schools and changes to the financial procedures for this financial year.
The 2017/2018 End of Year Workbook will be sent to Full Cheque Book Schools on Tuesday the 27th of March 2018 and should be returned to CYP Finance no later than Thursday the 5th of April 2018, in order to ensure the BCC meet its Statutory deadlines.
It is important that the end-of-year returns are made up to 31st March 2018 only. In particular please pay attention to the requirements for Creditors (FA4) and Debtors (FA5) contained in Appendix A of the guidance notes.
There are a few important requirements by External auditors:
· March 2018 Payroll liability. You will receive notification of the final payroll as soon as details are available. Schools that pay by direct debit must raise accruals for variations between direct debit amount and final payroll cost for the year; you will be notified of these amounts. For those schools that pay by cheque a liability must be raised for any cheques that have not cleared your bank account by the 31st March 2018. All schools must provide details for any disputed costs.
· Government Grants - A Counter Party Identifier number (CPID) is required for each grant entered to comply with Whole Government Accounts (WGA) requirements. The CPID number is a unique reference number given to the awarding body and this MUST appear in the City’s accounts. CYP Finance will contact you to discuss the conditions of the grant; a copy of the Conditions of Grant acceptance letter (COGA) should be submitted with your return (Important: must use the letter “I” in “CPID”, not number “1”, this will enable the city to identify all CPID transactions using a standard formula).
· The Council is required to disclose material transactions with Related Parties (RP) - bodies or individuals that have the potential to control or influence the Council or to be controlled or influenced by the Council. A Related Parties (RP) reference number (RELPTY) is required if a debtor or creditor is on the Related Parties list.
· Bank deposits need to be correctly split between cash & cash equivalent, short term investments (Further guidance will be issued by CYP Finance).
A list of CPID and RP with corresponding reference numbers is attached in a separate document. Please make sure you use the correct number in your debtors and creditors analysis. A few organisations are both WGA and RP, so both of their CPID and RELPTY numbers are required where applicable. Further detailed instructions will be available when the workbook is sent out around the third/fourth week of March 2018.
Please ensure this letter and the procedures are brought to the attention of all staff and financial providers involved in the closedown process ahead of the deadlines. If you are unclear over any procedure, or need further clarification, please contact your CYP Finance Officer as shown in Appendix A – Introduction, as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Xiao-Ming Hu
Schools Finance Team
Children and Young People Directorate
GUIDANCE NOTES - WORKBOOKS
FINAL ACCOUNTS WORKBOOK 2017/2018 FOR SCHOOLS OPERATING THE FULL CHEQUE BOOK SCHEME
Introduction
The Final Accounts Workbook for 2017/2018 has been developed by Schools Finance Team in conjunction with colleagues in schools. The completed workbook will provide all financial information required to close the Authority’s accounts in accordance with financial regulations and timetable.
If you require any information or help in completing the workbook please refer your contact in CYP Finance at or for queries, contact officers as below:
· Satvinder Matharu 675 9306 Sariya Bi 675 9322
· Mahmuda Khatun 303 5104 Michelle Rudd 303 5105
· Linda Sewell 464 5928 Fatima Elmi 464 9289
Completion of the Workbook
Each worksheet needs to be completed with nil returns where applicable.
Only public funds should be recorded in the workbook with the exception of Form FA1 income and expenditure account. Non-public fund income and expenditure may be included separately in the columns provided, as an aid to schools in reconciling their financial management information system in total.
All figures should be input to two decimal places. The workbook has been password protected where possible. Forms that may require the insertions of additional lines are unprotected, therefore, please ensure formulas are amended accordingly. If you need to input a figure to a protected cell please contact CYP Finance on the number(s) above for advice.
The workbook is saved in Microsoft Excel 2010. Please return the completed workbook in the same version via email to mailbox: by Thursday 5th of April 2018 at the latest (all cheque book schools have already provided LA with written assurance that this deadline will be met).
CYP Finance will only accept email returns from a named school employee and school e-mail address – not a financial provider.
Schools must submit a full set of final accounts using the workbook to by the date prescribed, failure to do so may result in removal from the cheque book scheme.
A paper copy of all supporting documentation listed on the checklist (signed as appropriate by a school employee) should also be sent when the workbook has been agreed by your CYP Finance contact.
CYP Finance will verify workbook returns and aim to advise schools to close the 2017/2018 Accounts on Thursday 19th April 2018.
Invoices for Capital Expenditure
Capital team requested that 2nd March 2018 is the last date for copies of all relevant capital expenditure invoices to date to be sent to . Estimated Capital Expenditure for the period up to 31st March2018 should have already been included in December 2017 Termly Returns and submitted in January 2018.
Checklist
Validation checks have been input to the checklist to ensure that individual sheets reconcile to one another, where appropriate. ‘True’ must appear in each cell prior to submission of the completed workbook to CYP Finance. Where “error” appears against the validation check line, the amount by which the validation does not balance is also shown. Only workbooks that have “true”/nil validation checks should be submitted, any problems with balancing the workbooks should be brought to the attention of your CYP Finance contact at the earliest opportunity to enable guidance/assistance to be provided. Any incomplete or un-reconciled returns submitted to CYP Finance will be returned for the school to amend and resubmit. Due to the short timescales, this should be sent back by return promptly. Narrative is also given as to the purpose of the validation check, which is further explained below:
FA1 - Income and expenditure account
FA1 has been populated with School Budget Share Allocation (sum of funds delegated by the LA, top-slice and any in year funding). The entries are protected (identifiable as red highlighted cells) and should not, therefore, be altered without prior agreement with CYP Finance.
Data may be entered at either CFR or VOYAGER code level, whichever the school prefers/finds easier.
All figures input to the worksheet must exclude VAT. Assets and Liabilities may be separately identified in column E (this would assist in the production of the FA 4 & 5 Returns) or simply included in the “Actual” figures in Column D.
National Insurance and Superannuation will need to be apportioned on a percentage basis if a full analysis is not available. This does not apply if a CFR analysis only has been provided.
The net income and expenditure on school budget share on FA1 should equal the movement on public funds on the balance sheet (form FA2).
NNDR has been populated with the Section 251 amount for Rates. The entries are protected (identifiable as red highlighted cells) and should not, therefore, be altered without prior agreement with CYP Finance.
Devolved Capital will be populated from data entered on FA9. The entries are protected (identifiable as red highlighted cells) and should not, therefore, be altered without prior agreement with CYP Finance.
FA2 Balance sheet
Only the public fund balance sheet is required. Non public funds must be excluded to allow CYP Finance to reconcile total cash advances made to schools. The balance sheet must “balance” (i.e. Net assets less “represented by” total should equal the same figure) before submission to CYP Finance; any problems with balancing should be referred to CYP Finance at the earliest opportunity before submission of the completed workbook
Each balance sheet value submitted for 2016/2017 (Last year) will be input to Form FA2. This will reflect any adjustments identified by CYP Finance after original submission by schools. Any queries you have regarding input figures should be raised with the Team no later than Thursday 29th March 2018. These figures must not be changed without prior agreement with CYP Finance.
A copy of the completed FA2 form signed by the Head Teacher should be e-mailed to the once the workbook has been reconciled; signatures of external financial providers are NOT acceptable. We require signed copies by the 27th April 2018.
Reconciliation checks have been built into the workbook to verify that the following reconcile:
· Debtors and prepayments agree to the total debtors on form FA5
· Cash at bank and deposits agree to reconciled bank balances on form FA3
· Creditors and receipts in advance agree to the total creditors on form FA4.
· Outstanding loan repayment (if applicable) agrees to the closing balances on form FA7.
· Public Funds movement should equal the closing balance shown for 2017/2018 less the net income and expenditure on school budget share on form FA1.
FA3 Bank reconciliation
Five worksheets are provided for bank reconciliation, one for each bank account held. If you have more than five bank accounts please contact CYP Finance who will input additional worksheets.
One total amount for unpresented cheques and income may be input to the worksheet as long as a schedule of individual amounts is printed from the school financial management information system and submitted to CYP Finance with the completed workbook.
Forms FA3 (a) to (e) are not protected and additional lines may be inserted if required. Please ensure any formula amendments are actioned accordingly.
See FA2 balance sheet above for reconciliation check
FA3 Unrepresented Cheques
This must be populated in the Excel format provided on Tab ‘FA3 Unrepresented Cheques’. Note the definition of an Unrepresented cheque is that a cheque has been issued by the school, but has not cleared the Bank account as the 31st March 2018. Please identify & highlight unrepresented cheques made payable to Birmingham City Council departments.
FA4 Creditor analysis
The creditor analysis is required to comply with the City Council’s statutory reporting requirements and audit directives.
Details of each creditor must be input into the appropriate category and include the VOYAGER/CFR code used to post to FA1 Income and Expenditure account, where applicable.
Please exclude all Non-Public Creditors from the Listing, especially where the figure is obtained from a Control Account total.
If the Creditors are too numerous to list individually, YOU MUST attach a detailed list to support global entries under the relevant headings. This is particularly important if independent accountants or auditors prepare the workbook, as access to their working papers can be difficult to obtain after they leave the premises. Whilst it is important to recognise liabilities in the City’s accounts, these should be subject to a materiality test given the tight deadlines we are working to. If schools are awaiting details of liabilities and this may have an effect on meeting the deadline for returning the completed workbook, advice should be sought from CYP Finance as to the best way forward.
Please note a credit note to cancel a previous payment must be raised as a debtor.
A CPID/RELPTY number is required if a creditor appears on the CPID/RELPTY list. Please contact CYP Finance if you are uncertain which number to use. Please specify to what creditor relates. The categories requiring analysis are as follows:
Government Grants:
These include bodies issuing grants on behalf of government departments, and a note is required to confirm who the issuing body is. This does not include Lottery funding which should be shown under ‘Other - Balance Sheet.’ A CPID number is required for each grant entered. The CPID number is a unique reference number given to the awarding body and this MUST appear in the City’s accounts. Please contact CYP Finance if you are uncertain which number to use. CYP Finance will contact you to discuss the conditions of the grant; a copy of the Conditions of Grant acceptance letter (COGA) should be submitted with your return.
Employee Costs:
These include any outstanding payments due to employees and generally cover any items arising from the payroll system, with the following exceptions, which should be shown under other balance sheet/accruals: