2014/15 FMS6 Year End
Guidance Notes
Key Deadlines
Bank Authorisation Letter
Year End Pro-forma Schedules Book A
Bank Reconciliation
Consistent Financial Reporting Preliminary Return
Consistent Financial Reporting Final Return
February2015
07/03/2015
17/04/2015
17/04/2015
17/04/2015
19/06/2015
Introduction
The allocation of funding from the Local Authority to schools is administered and controlled
on an annual basis, in line with sections 45-53 of the School Standards and Framework Act
1998 (SSAF Act 1998). In line with the Act, LA is responsible for ensuring that an
appropriate level of financial control is exercised over allocated funding and therefore
requires managers i.e. head teachers and governing bodies to account for the use of
funds.
In order to give a true and fair record of the Council’s accounts, in 2010/11 the Central
Finance Team at the LA, requested that schools provide greater detail within the year end
returns they make. A split was introduced for all debtors and creditors to identify which
relate to Croydon LA, Schools within Croydon LA and all others. This applied right across
the board and was intended to assist the LA in knowing its true position at the end of the
financial year, as well as giving schools greater detail around their assets and liabilities.
Where unreconciled cheques are listed as LB Croydon or Croydon Council in the LA
Croydon section of the bank reconciliation schedule, please insert a comment box or
similar to give more details of the exact payee e.g. department/section. This will help
central finance identify if these amounts have been accrued for at the LA end.
The year-end schedules are in two parts – Book A and Book B. Book A is largely figures
and Book B is mainly words, apart from the private funds section. All figures in Book A link
in directly with the Balance Sheet, so no figures are entered directly on that worksheet.
The financial year starts on the 1st April and ends on the 31st March the following year.
The system of financial control employed by budget managers must aim to include all
transactions of a financial nature which relate to goods and services used within this period
and exclude those transactions that relate to goods and services used after the end of the
financial year.
Closing the financial year is an important element in the system of internal control. Proper
planning of the work required and an appropriate level of time allocated to the task will
ensure that:
1. Accurate figures are supplied to governing bodies, head teachers, the LA, the DfE and
OFSTED.
2. Relevant legislation and regulations are complied with e.g. Consistent Financial
Reporting, VAT legislation, Construction Industry Scheme (S16 return not now required
by Croydon LA)
3. Queries can be followed up.
4. Outstanding monies due to the school can be properly identified and steps taken to
collect them.
Preparation for Year End – FMS6
Do not close Period 12 before completing all transactions that will affect the cash book
(bank reconciliation, period 12 payment demand, yearend adjustments).
Do not process any new orders after 31st March in the old financial year (2014/15).
Do not process any transactions that will affect the cash book in 2015-16 until after your
School Finance Adviser has completed a preliminary closure of the old year (2014-15) on
your system
during their year-end visit. This includes cheque payments and income receipts.
Accounts Payable
Orders
It is recommended that all ordering should stop by February half term to allow
for goods to be received and invoices processed before 31st March 2015. This
will reduce the number of accruals required at year end.
Order books
If you use a new order book for each year you may wish to close your 2014-15
order book.
Outstanding orders
Print a report of all outstanding orders and cancel any old or duplicate orders.
FMS Route: Reports>Accounts Payable Reports>Purchase Orders>Select View
Outstanding Orders>Click OK
Invoices
As far as possible invoices relating to 2014-15 should be included in the 201415 accounts. Suppliers should be encouraged to submit invoices as quickly as
possible for goods and services supplied on or before 31st March 2015. You
can continue to process and authorise invoices relating to 2014-15 in 2014-15
after the 31st March 2015, but it is vitally important that you do not raise any
cheques. You may raise the cheques in the new year 2015-16 after your SFA
has completed a preliminary close.
Unauthorised
invoices
Check that there are no unauthorised invoices on your system.
Aged creditors
Print an aged creditor report. Follow up and pay/ensure credit notes are
received for any invoices over 30 days old.
FMS Route: Reports>Accounts Payable Reports>Supplier Analysis>Aged
Creditor>in the View area select Detailed Report> in the sequence area select
Creditor Name>Click OK
Credit notes
For credit notes identified on the aged creditor report please request a
reimbursement from the supplier unless the credit note is likely to be used in
the near future.
Cheques
Raise all relevant cheques before 1st April 2015. Do not raise any cheques in
2014-15 after 31st March 2015. Do not raise any cheques in the new year
2015-16 until after a preliminary close down of 2014-15 accounts has taken
place.
Expenditure
Check that all expenditure relating to 2014-15 has been posted to the correct
areas. Check the detailed transaction listings for each cost centre and ledger
code.
Post all corrections that are needed to comply with Consistent Financial
Reporting requirement, e.g. for any transactions posted to the wrong ledger
codes.
Accounts Receivable (Income)
Income local income
Check that all income relating to 2014-15 has been posted to the correct
areas/cost centres/ledger codes whether or not the money has been paid
in to the bank.
Income funding
Check that all cash transfers of Ad Hoc funding as advised on monthly
sheets have been posted.
Check that all monthly transfers of Delegated Funding have been posted.
Reconcile all funding ledger codes on FMS to relevant figures on final
March 2015 funding sheet (latest version 31/3/15).
Monies owed to the
If the school provides goods or services to be invoiced for payment, you
school
should raise these invoices as soon as practicable after the provision of
such goods or services. This will ensure that all monies owed to the school
have been received and processed on the finance system by 31st March.
Accounts
Receivable
Verify all outstanding balances in Accounts Receivable and ensure that all
‘old’ or incorrect items are cancelled in 2014-15.
Aged debtors
Print an aged debtor report and ensure that all balances shown are valid.
Route: Focus>Accounts Receivable>Reports>Aged Debtor Report>click OK
VAT
VAT – It is the school’s responsibility to ensure that all VAT is correctly reported to and reimbursed from
the LA. Where VAT has not been properly accounted for and becomes ‘Time Lapsed’ it will be charged
to the school’s accounts as a non vatable item.
VAT claim
When you have completed all the other transactions relating to 2014-15,
process the final VAT claim for 2014-15 (Period 12)
VAT
reimbursements
Post all VAT reimbursements that will appear on the bank statement
until the 31st March 2015 in 2014-15.
Vat reimbursed after the 31st March i.e. appearing on bank statements
after this date should be posted in the new year 2015-16 after a
preliminary closure of 2014-15 accounts.
VAT
reconciliation
The net balance of the VAT accounts should equal the total of all
outstanding VAT reimbursement claims.
Run a Trial Balance or a Balances and Reserves Report to check VAT
balances.
List all amounts still to be reimbursed on the Year End Pro-formas
Schedules
VAT adjustment
Net off the balances on the VAT codes to VAT Reimbursement code. NB
the balance on the VAT reimbursement code should then be equal to
the total of claims yet to be reimbursed.
Petty Cash
Petty Cash
expenditure
Post all petty cash expenditure transactions relating to 2014-15. Check
that all petty cash transactions entered on FMS6 have been posted.
Route: Reports>General Ledger>Petty Cash>Unposted Folio
Listing>select the relevant Account>Click OK
Petty Cash
reimbursement
Reimburse the Petty Cash balance up to the imprest level.
Petty Cash
cash-in-hand
Print a Petty Cash report from the system showing the current cash
balance and sign the report to confirm that the cash balance in the petty
cash box agrees to the Cash-in-Hand balance shown on the report.
Route: Reports>General Ledger>Petty Cash>select required views e.g.
01/04/14 to 31/03/15>Click OK
Bank Account(s)
Reconciliation - Each school must return a reconciliation of the cash book (ledger) balance as shown
in the year-end balance sheet to the bank statement balance as at the 31st March 2015.
Unpresented cheques
Cancel and reissue (if applicable) any unpresented cheques that are over
6 months old before 31st March 2015.
Bank deposits
Check that any bank deposits over 1 month old on the system but which
have not yet appeared on a bank statement are genuine deposits.
Bank Reconciliation
Only complete the bank reconciliation for the period to the 31st March
after you have entered all the items that will affect the cash book
balance in FMS6 in 2014-15. Do not process any transactions in 2015-16
that will affect the cash book until after a preliminary close has taken
place.
STEP 1 Ensure that ALL the transactions that are appearing on your
March bank statement have been entered on FMS6 in 2014-15.
STEP 2 Re-print the previous statement e.g. Feb statement and print an
unreconciled items listing.
STEP 3 Reconcile the items on the bank statement to the items
appearing in the cash book (bank) on FMS6.
STEP 4 Print the bank reconciliation (statement of items reconciled) and
the unreconciled items report as usual.
STEP 5 Print a Balances and Reserves Report.
STEP 6 Complete Year End Schedule 5 reconciling the ‘Bank Balance’ on
the Balances and Reserves Report to the Bank Statement balance. I.e.
identify items that are appearing in the ‘cash book’ (on FMS6) but have
not yet appeared on the bank statement. If there are any items that are
appearing on the bank statement but that are not on FMS6 these will be
part of the reconciliation also.
Year End Adjustments
Ensure that all year-end adjustments are entered correctly on FMS6
Dinner money
‘Parent Pay’
If you are using the ‘cashless’ method for collecting dinner monies, you
must reconcile the balance on the school accounting system to the
balance on your suppliers catering software system to identify deficit
accounts and payments in advance. The net balance on the Initial
system should equal the difference between dinner monies and charges
received in FMS6 after adjusting for monies or charges not received (see
above).
Dinner money
‘cashless’
Check that all dinner monies/school meal charges have been received and
posted correctly. The transactions which appear each month on the
payment demand in respect of income and charges for school meals
should be reconciled to the source documents (e.g. paying in slips, sheets
received from the kitchen showing the number of meals taken). Year end
adjustments due in respect of monies or charges not received can then
be identified.
School journey/trips
Check that the net balance showing in the various school trips cost
centres in FMS6 agrees to any other records held by the school e.g. the
net total of all payment cards held re installments paid by individual
pupils.
School journey/trips
Where a trip is to take place in 2015-16 but payments have been
received/made (deposits etc) in 2014-15 list the details so that the
correct amounts can be transferred to 2015-16 accounts for any
prepayments of income or expenditure.
School journey/trips
Where a trip has taken place in 2014-15 but further monies are due from
parents or to the supplier list the details so that the correct amounts can
be transferred into 2015-16 accounts in respect of any monies still owed.
P12 Payment Demand
Process the P12 payment demand using a NORMAL JOURNAL. Debit
the relevant expenditure codes and credit the relevant income codes as
usual but post the balance (usually a credit) to PY01. The balance should
equal the total amount of the March payment demand.
P12 Payment Demand
In the new year process a cash book journal debiting PY01 and crediting
the bank after your SFA has completed a preliminary close.
Ringfenced Grants
Identify any ringfenced grants received in 2014-15 e.g. Capital grants,
PE/Sports grant that should be carried forward into 2015-16. Enter details
on the Analysis of Balances sheet.
Devolved
Formula Capital
All schools should have received the balance of their Devolved Formula
Capital by March 2015. An accrual will be required for any monies not
received by 31st March 2015.
VA capital
Check that the governing body contribution has been correctly processed
on the system. Identify and account for any amounts still to be
reimbursed.
ICT capital
Reallocate all relevant ICT capital expenditure / income from revenue to
capital.
Year End Adjustments (continued)
Balance funds
Most schools in Croydon will have at least 5 funds. (6 for extended
schools with community focused expenditure e.g. Children’s Centres).
Check that the reserves/deficit balance in each fund is correct. If errors
are identified e.g. capital income or expenditure posted to revenue funds
etc, make any necessary adjustments.
Revenue Contribution
Check that Revenue Contribution to capital (E30) is equal to CI01.
Accrued income
Enter details on the year-end pro forma schedules of income due in
respect of goods or services supplied in 2014-15 but where the cash will
not be received until 2015-16.
Accruals are not mandatory for items under £500 in Primary Schools and
£1000 in Secondary.
Accrued expenditure
Enter details on the year-end pro forma schedules of expenditure due in
respect of goods or services received in 2014-15 but where payment will
not be made until 2015-16.
NB Commitments on FMS6 are not included in actual balances at year
end and may therefore need to be accrued, if goods received or services
rendered.
A reversing journal should be used to process all accruals and
prepayments. The accrual/prepayment should be processed in P12 in
2014-15 and the reversal in P1 in 2015-16.
Accruals are not mandatory for items under £500 in Primary Schools and
£1000 in Secondary.
Prepaid income
Enter details on the year-end pro forma schedules of income due in
respect of goods or services to be supplied in 2015-16 but where monies
have been received in 2014-15.
Prepayments are not mandatory for items under £500.
Prepaid expenditure
Enter details on the year-end pro forma schedules of expenditure due in
respect of goods or services to be received in 2014-15 but which have
been paid for in 2015-16.
Prepayments are not mandatory for items under £500.
Stock
List details of stock held at 31st March 2015. Value stock at the lower of
cost or net realisable value. Assuming that the items used from stock are
used in the order that they are received from suppliers, then the value of
stock items held at year end should be based on the last price paid.
However, in the case of school uniform or other items for resale, if the
last price paid is higher than the amount you expect to receive when the
goods are sold then the goods should be valued at the expected sale
price (net realisable value).
Enter details on the year-end pro forma schedules.
Setting Up the New Financial Year
A new financial year must be defined before attempting a preliminary closure. You should ensure
that a back up of the 2014-15 data has been completed, before defining the new financial year.
New financial year
Route: Tools>Define Financial Years>Define/Edit Years>click the
Add button at the right hand side of the screen
Year Description - e.g. 2015-16
Number of periods - should be twelve
Calendar Month – should be selected
Next Year Begins – the date of the next financial year will be
displayed automatically – for 2015-16 it should be 01/04/2015
Check spending against C.C. – select this box to monitor cost centre
expenditure
Order Book Open – select this box to automatically open your order
book. If you use a new order book each year you will need to
define the new order book and open it through the Tools route.
Record Deliveries – select this box if you wish to record delivery
notes for items ordered
Copy Service Term Mappings – select this box if you are using the
personnel module and wish to retain the service term mappings
already defined in FMS
Click the Save button to save your settings
Existing structures will be transferred automatically from 2014-15 to
2015-16
Opening the new year
To open the new financial year:
Route: Tools>Define Financial Years>Define/Edit Years>highlight
2015-16>select the Open Year button
The system only allows 2 years to be open at any one time.
Defining VAT periods
New VAT periods must be defined for each financial year.
Route: Tools>Define VAT Periods>select the Add button on the
right hand side of the screen. The appropriate settings for Croydon
schools are shown below:Description
Start Date
End Date
No. Periods
Copy from Previous Year
Days per Period
2015(VAT)
01/04/2015
31/03/2016
12
Select
n/a
CFR Returns and Closure of Financial Year
Please ensure that a backup of 2014-15 data has been completed.
Preliminary close
For schools that buy in to the Schools Finance SLA your School Finance
Adviser will complete this for you.
CFR preliminary report
Run a preliminary CFR report. In previous years a number of common
errors have been identified so please check the following:
1. The total reserves / deficit figure equals the total reserves / deficit
figure showing on the balances and reserves report for all relevant
funds.
2. That exam fees (E21) has a figure in for secondaries and is zero for
primaries.
3. That sixth form funding (I02) is zero for all schools except for schools
with sixth forms.
4. Check that the funding showing in the various income codes agrees to
the funding sheet. Details of any accruals/deferrals must be recorded
on the year end pro-forma schedules.
5. Check that the reserves /deficits from 2013-14 +/- the in year
surplus/deficit for 2014-15 equals the final reserves/deficit for 2014-15.
6. Check that the totals showing against each CFR category are as you
would expect.
7. There is no amount in B02 on the balances tab, unless declaring this as
a surplus balance for clawback by the LA.
CFR preliminary report
Complete and return the preliminary CFR report – see Summary of
Documents Required
SFVS
Complete and return the SFVS in full – see Summary of Documents
Required
Year End Schedules
Complete and return the Year End Schedules – see Summary of
Documents Required
Final CFR return
Please ensure that all errors have a note explaining why there is a CFR
query. After your preliminary CFR return has been checked by the LA,
you or your SFA will be advised if there are any issues by May half term
at the very latest. If all is ok, then you can submit the final CFR return –
see Summary of Documents Required.
Summary of Documents Required
A blank template of the year end pro forma schedules populated with the final March funding is
available now.
Please note that additional lines cannot be added this year so you may have to group certain
suppliers/cost centres into one line.
All electronic copies of documents should be e mailed to schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk from the
school’s email address.
Please ensure that the title of all emails includes the school cost centre number e.g. 9999 and a
description e.g. Preliminary CFR, yearendschedules.
Year End Proforma Schedules
Book A
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
1 – Balance Sheet
2 – Analysis of Balances
3 – Receipt of Funding
4 – Funding Reconciliation
5 – Bank Reconciliation
A – Croydon LA Debtors
B – Croydon LA Creditors
C – Non Croydon LA Debtors
D – Non Croydon LA Creditors
E – Accrued Income (not LA)
F – Accrued Expenditure (not LA)
G – Prepaid Income (all)
H – Prepaid Expenditure (all)
J – Stock
K - VAT
L – Aged Debtors (all)
M – Aged Creditors (all)
N – Cost Centre Summary
O – Trial Balance
P (A) - Reconciled Bank Items
P (B) - Unreconciled Bank Items
Q – Balances & Reserves
R – CFR Return
Original document with manuscript
signature(s) for Schedules 1, 2, 3
Electronic copy of all schedules by
Friday 17th April 2015
Title of filename & email subject:
xxxxyearendschedules1415
Where xxxx is the school cost
centre number (no E)
See Fronter Finance Room for
more details
There is intentionally no Schedule I
NB Please now include the reconciled
bank items report (Schedule P (A)
If there are any Croydon LA cheques in
the unreconciled list in Schedule 5 and
Schedule P (B), please provide details of
the LA department or section that is
being paid.
Year End Proforma Schedules
Book B
Schedule N to R require an exported copy
of the respective reports to be pasted
into the schedules.
School Accounts - Private funds (not
school fund)
Contract Details – detailed template on
Fronter with user guidance
Consistent
Financial
Once your Preliminary CFR return is
ready, you should
Electronic copy by Friday 17th
April 2015
Reporting
Preliminary
Return
Email it to
schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk
from the schools email address. Do not
rename the Preliminary CFR return.
We do not require a signed version of this
report
Consistent
Financial
Reporting Final
Return
Once validation checks have been
completed on your preliminary CFR
return, you will be advised if there are
any issues. If you have not heard
anything by May half term at the latest,
you can assume it is safe to submit your
final CFR return to the LA. This should be
signed by the Headteacher and a school
governor. We require an emailed
electronic version of the return, as well as
a scanned signed copy.
Original document with manuscript
signature(s)
Bank
Reconciliation
The March bank reconciliation should be
scanned to CFL Schools Finance. This
should include:
A system report showing the items
reconciled
A system report showing the
unreconciled items
A copy of the bank statement should also
be scanned to CFL Schools Finance.
A reconciliation of the bank statement
balance to the current ledger balance
showing details of all outstanding items
should be completed in the year end
schedules (Schedule 5).
Documents scanned to
schools.finance@croydon.gov.
uk with signature(s) by Friday
17th April 2015


Final scanned, signed, copy by
Friday 19th June 2015