Michael Bracey
To: The Bursars/School Business Managers of all Director of People Services
Primary & Secondary Schools in Milton Keynes
Penni Powers
Finance Manager (Children & Families)
Our Ref:
Your Ref:
30th January 2015
Reply To:
Angela Planter
Direct Line:
01908 253581
Dear Colleague,
Procedures Relating to Closure of Accounts 2014/2015
Please see below the procedures for schools to adhere to ensure that the accounts are closed in a
timely manner and that transactions are accounted for in the correct financial year.
Compliance with the attached procedures will ensure that all transactions relating to goods and
services supplied on or before 31st March 2015 are included in the 2014/2015 accounts.
As always, due to the timing of the Easter holiday and the Council’s short deadlines, the deadline
dates for schools are very tight and must be met.
Please ensure you read these instructions carefully before you start working on closing your
accounts.
With the exception of your normal period 12 month end returns and the signed hard copy front
sheet of your year end three way reconciliation, all forms are required to be submitted
electronically. Separate links for all forms required are available on the schools website.
If you require clarification on any aspect of these procedures or the closure of accounts process in
general please contact me on the above number. Many thanks in advance for all your support and
co-operation.
Yours sincerely,
Angela Planter
Angela Planter
Senior Accountant (Schools).
Children and Families, PO Box No 106, Saxon Court, 502 Avebury Boulevard,
Central Milton Keynes MK9 3HJ
Tel: (01908) 691691 Fax: (01908) 253750 Hays DX 31406 Milton Keynes
CLOSURE OF
ACCOUNTS
PROCEDURES FOR
SCHOOLS
2014/2015
Produced by the Schools Finance & Training Team – January 2015
Health Checks
A Health Check letter is attached and needs to be completed by Friday 27th February
2015 in preparation for closure of accounts. Please ensure you have completed all of
these checks and sent an e-mail response to me confirming completion of the checks.
Lease Information
In order to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards the authority needs to
review all lease arrangements at each year end. Please find additional guidance and
forms under the following separate link:
http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/schools-and-lifelong-learning/information-forschools/lms/final-accounts-year-end-procedure
Completed forms should be e-mailed to Schoolsfinance@milton-keynes.gov.uk by Friday
13th March 2015 at the latest.
Payment of Invoices
It is important that all goods and services received prior to 31st March 2015 are charged to
the 2014/2015 financial year. It is, therefore, essential that where possible all invoices
should be obtained from suppliers, including MKC, for those goods and services received
to ensure payment in the correct financial year. All MKC and Milton Keynes Service
Partnership LLP(MKSP) service providers have been contacted and asked to invoice
schools by mid-March. Please ensure prompt payment of these invoices to reduce the
number of debtors and creditors on the school’s accounts and the Council’s
accounts.
Payment from Local Bank Accounts.
 All transactions and payments dated 31st March 2015 or before should be recorded in
2014/2015 on your local system, and should be included on your last return.
 Please see timetabled dates that your period 12 & 13 and other returns need to be
received by the Schools’ Finance Team. A period 13 return is compulsory even if you
do not think you have processed any transactions in period 13.
 After the completion of this final claim, no further transactions are to be recorded in
2014/2015. They should be recorded on your school software in 2015/2016.
 Debtors & Creditors should be included on your final return. Further details are shown
below.
Payroll Expenditure
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Please include on your creditors list any employee-related expenditure e.g. supply
teacher claims, for work undertaken in March or before which will not be paid until after
your final Trial Balance, i.e. 31st March 2015.
Bank Interest
If your bank account is within the pooled bank arrangements, the authority will notify you
on 20th March 2015 of the bank interest that has been credited to your bank account.
This should be recorded against your income code on your system in March. Only if you
miss the opportunity to do this should it appear on your debtors list (remember one
treatment not both).
Bank Statements
If your bank account is within the pooled bank arrangements a copy of your bank
statement up to the 31st March will be sent to you electronically on 1st April.
Creditors Lists
Please find as a separate link an electronic copy of a Creditors List for you to complete for
expenditure items. (Please ensure all areas of the form are completed fully to assist
in the referencing process, even if you do not have any Creditors).
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Where invoices relating to 2014/2015 cannot be processed in 2014/15 by the deadlines
given above, the amounts and details should be itemised on the creditors list.
Include any income you have received in advance, i.e. income received in the
2014/2015 financial year for the 2015/2016 financial year.
There is no minimum amount as you will be recording your creditors on your system
and the paperwork is back-up for the auditing of the accounts.
Do not include orders from your system that have not been received – these, need to
be included in the new year’s accounts.
Capital items need to be included.
Include any invoices relating to services received from Milton Keynes Council or Milton
Keynes Service Partnership that you have not paid for by the end of term. Please do
not just put MKC or MKSP, but give details of the service. (Please ensure that you do
not put items on your creditors list that you have already processed on your system or
include items on the list more than once).
Include staff payments due to be paid in April or later for work carried out in March or
earlier.
Where a school is holding cluster group money/consortia funds on behalf of other
schools at 31 March 2015 this should be included on your creditor list. Where this is
the case the lead school should also advise other schools in the cluster what
corresponding entries should be put on their debtor lists as sums due to them.
Creditors lists should be e-mailed to the Schools’ Statutory Finance Team by Monday
20th April 2015. A submission must be made even if it is a NIL RETURN.
Please state if a figure is an estimate e.g. a utility bill or supply teacher charge, and
attach workings of your estimates.
Please send copies as evidence of your highest invoices from your creditors list when
you have received them, these must state that the goods or services were received
before the financial year end. Primary Schools 5 highest and Secondary Schools 10
highest. All creditor evidence must be returned by Friday 5th June 2015.
Debtors Lists
Please find as a separate link an electronic copy of a Debtors List for you to complete for
income items. (Please ensure all areas of the form are completed fully to assist in
the referencing process, even if you do not have any Debtors).
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Where income relating to 2014/2015 cannot be processed by the deadlines given
above, the amounts and details should be itemised on the debtors list.
Include any payments you have made in advance, i.e. payments you have made in the
2014/2015 financial year relating to a service in the 2015/2016 financial year.
There is no minimum amount as you will be recording your debtors on your system and
the paperwork is back-up for the auditing of the accounts.
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Include any income due from Milton Keynes Council not received by 31st March 2015.
Please do not just put MKC, but give details of what the income relates to.
Please include bank interest received on 31st March if you have not entered it on your
system before closing period 12.
Do not include the balance of estimated income that has not been received, unless you
can guarantee the receipt relates to the 2014/2015 financial year.
Debtors lists should be e-mailed to the Schools’ Statutory Finance Team by Monday
20th April 2015. A submission must be made even if it is a NIL RETURN.
Please send copies of paperwork as evidence relating to your highest amounts of
income from your debtors list when you have received them, these must state that you
received the income before the financial year end. Primary Schools 5 highest and
Secondary Schools 10 highest. All debtor evidence must be returned by Friday 5th
June 2015.
Universal Infant Free School Meals
Schools with children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will have received a provisional
allocation of UIFSM Grant Funding in the July 2014 cash advance payment, as well as
Small School Transition Funding for those schools that were eligible. Schools are
reminded that UIFSM funding will be amended in the Summer term based on an average
of the actual children taking up the free meal as at the October 2014 and January 2015
census dates. At this point the school will either receive further funding, or will have their
15/16 allocation reduced in order to recover the overpayment of funding in 14/15 if actual
take up of meals was not as high as anticipated. Either way, schools will be expected
to raise a debtor or creditor at the end of March 2015. Further guidance on UIFSM is
available on the LMS website.Please ensure you also process your Debtors and
Creditors on your system. CR01 should match your Creditors return and DR01
should match your Debtors return.
Devolved Formula Capital
Schools are reminded that the maximum amount of Devolved Formula Capital (DFC)
funding that can be carried forward at 31st March 2015 is the sum of their 2013/14 and
2014/15 allocations, unless the Local Authority has authorised the carrying forward of
earlier years allocations to go towards funding a larger approved scheme.
Any unspent funding from the 2012/13 allocation must be returned to the Department for
Education (DfE). If a school has unspent DFC which must be returned to the DfE it should
appear on their creditors list. The Local Authority will check the carried forward balances in
school returns to ensure compliance with DfE conditions of grant.
Schools must ensure that only unspent Devolved Formula Capital balances appear in B03
and that any other unspent capital funding appears in B05
Unspent Balances 2014/2015
Attached as a separate link is a form to complete to give us the amount of unspent
balances you have left, if any. Please complete this form and return it by Friday 24th April
2015 by e-mail. Also attached is a form to help you calculate these balances – we do not
need this returned.
B01 – Committed revenue balance
Committed amounts will be where a school has entered into a contract or raised a
purchase order but the goods or services have not been received by 31st March, unspent
voluntary funds and earmarked public funds. Deficit balances should also be included in
B01 as spent money is already committed.
B02 - Uncommitted revenue balance
These would be any other revenue balances that have not been committed.
ITSS Helpsheet
For those of you who purchase the MKSP ITSS service, a Helpsheet will be sent to you
under separate cover to assist you with the year end process.
Three Way Reconciliations
A final Three Way Reconciliation must be completed and received by the Schools’
Statutory Finance Team by Tuesday 5th May 2015 by e-mail. A copy of the front sheet
signed by the Headteacher also needs to be sent via the courier. You need to
complete the reconciliation based on the period 13 Trial Balance, P13 LA report and the
bank statement up to the last day in March. If a third party completes these for you please
ensure you pass on your information as soon as possible to enable them to meet the
deadline on your behalf. We will ensure you receive your Period 13 reports by Monday
27th April.
N.B. Please ensure you use the 3WR template provided under the final accounts
guidance and also see the year end additional Three Way Reconciliation guidance.
Cash Advances
Please ensure you check what year the cash advance relates to before recording it on
your system.
I intend to write to schools with their closing balances by Wednesday 6th May 2015.
You should be able to start completing or at least thinking about your Debtors & Creditors
before 31st March but please remember that you have until 14th April to input this
information onto your systems.
As the Easter holiday period falls at the start of April this year the timescales for
undertaking your preliminary close for period 12 are tight. However every effort must be
made to ensure March cash advances and the March payroll are posted by 31 March, and
the payroll control account cleared and preliminary period 12 close done by that date. For
those that are not working much over the Easter period this will help ensure you have
sufficient time to get those debtor and creditor accruals in and the period 13 trial balance
run by that very important date of 14th April.
Typical problems that have arisen in previous years are shown below and hopefully they
can be avoided this year:
 Schools submitting all final accounts information too early and then needing to go
back and make changes – if this happens another preliminary close will need to be
run and the information re-submitted.
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Credits on expenditure codes due to overestimating creditors from the previous
financial year. Time needs to be taken to ensure estimates are as accurate as
possible.
Handwritten Debtors & Creditors lists being unreadable. Please use the electronic
copy and e-mail the return in by the date shown.
Schools not being able to produce or find the evidence to go with the Debtors &
Creditors lists. Whatever information you have at the time of drawing up your
lists, please submit with the list. Evidence can include copy invoices,
purchase orders, e-mails informing you of funding, bank statements etc.
Schools not providing the debtor and creditor evidence by the deadline date and
therefore having to be reminded to send them.
Electronic copies of all forms are available on the LMS website
Please e-mail all returns to Schoolsfinance@milton-keynes.gov.uk