Year end procedures

School revenue balances

Updated school balances will be circulated at the end of May.

• Schools' revenue balances for 2023-24 (xls format, 24KB)

Closedown

Please take care during period 12 (March) to ensure that transactions are entered into the correct period.

Schools must complete the necessary closedown tasks as early as possible and not process any accounting transactions (raise POs, goods received, pay invoices, process journals etc.) after 31 March. Payroll charges, procurement card transactional details and other end-of-month payments relating to March processed by OCC (through Hampshire IBC) will, however, be made into schools’ accounts and posted into what will be at that time the previous financial year.

Schools do not need to account for year-end accruals. Other council directorates supplying services (meals and cleaning costs) to schools have been asked to ensure that their charges are processed into school accounts before the end of the financial year or, if not material, carried over into next year. Schools are, therefore, asked to give priority to any internal trading documents they receive during the final months of the financial year and process them promptly.

Given the above, it is expected that the schools’ balances will be compiled and provisionally confirmed before the end of May. Schools will continue to have access to their historical financial records and will be able to include a near exact balance in their budget plans for 2023-24, long before any confirmation of the figures is issued by the council.

The following returns/actions are needed:

Capital return

The capital return pre-populated from your SAP account and is now available. Schools are asked to confirm the figures and return them to graham.clare@oxfordshire.gov.uk by no later than 25 March 2024.

• School Capital Template 23-24 (xlsx format, 767KB)

Lease return

In light of recent updates to international accounting standards, it is now imperative that every maintained school provides a response. 

Completing the lease return form is mandatory, requiring schools to either declare the absence of new leases or provide details for all leases initiated in the financial year 2022-23.

The deadline for submitting this return is set for no later than Friday 19 April 2024

• School Year End Lease Return 2023-24 (xlsx format, 47KB)

Local Expenditure Accounts

Schools are required to reconcile expenditures processed through this account and ensure that the account is topped up before year-end.

Schools are required to complete an annual non-pay benefits return (reference P11D return). The IBC is required to make annual returns to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) showing all non-pay benefits provided to employees for itself and its partner organisations (including Oxfordshire). 

• Common Non-Pay Benefits (docx format, 37KB)

Details of all benefits and the employees who received them need to be provided, and a request for this information and an explanation of what is required are attached.

These returns should be sent to payrollsupport@hants.gov.uk by 31 March

Voluntary Funds

Any funds held outside of the IBC, where either the Governing Body or a member of staff form part of the administration of the fund, must complete an annual submission to the School’s Financial Adviser in Education Finance Services of audit audited accounts and management letter. This should be done no later than 30 September 2024.

Key dates

If you have any problems or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your school’s named Education Finance Services (EFS) Finance Advisor.