The Department of Education (DfE) has recently released guidance documents for college’s forthcoming year ends to 31 July 2025.
This blog discusses the following guidance and framework documents in place for the 2025 audits.
- College Accounts Direction 2024 to 2025
- Regularity Self-Assessment Questionnaire
- College Financial Handbook 2024
- Framework and Guide for External Auditors and Reporting Accountants of Colleges
- Good practice guidance for colleges and academy trusts on novel, contentious and repercussive transactions
College Accounts Direction 2024 to 2025
The College Accounts Direction 2024 to 2025 (CAD) was published in March 2025. It sets out the DfE’s financial reporting requirements for further education and sixth-form colleges for their financial year ending 31 July 2025. The DfE plans to update this document annually.
The CAD does not apply to specialist post-16 institutions, non-maintained schools, or independent training providers. Academy trusts with post-16 provision should refer to the Academies Accounts Direction.
Higher education institutions that are part-funded by the DfE are deemed to meet the requirements of this Accounts Direction if they comply with the extant Accounts Direction issued by the Office for Students (OfS).
What has changed in the CAD 2025?
- References to the Post-16 Audit Code of Practice have been replaced with the Framework and Guide for External Auditors and Reporting Accountants of Colleges (see below).
- The requirement for the Chair to sign the Statement of Regularity, Propriety and Compliance has been removed as it is now the responsibility of the Accounting Officer (see Annex B of the CAD).
- The Statement of Responsibilities of the Members of the Corporation now states that ‘On behalf of the corporation, the chair of the board of governors is responsible for discussing the accounting officer’s statement of regularity, propriety and compliance with the accounting officer’ (see Annex C of the CAD).
- The detail in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) disclosure note has been updated with the latest information available (see Annex D of the CAD).
- A new narrative disclosure has been included about 16-19 discretionary and vulnerable bursaries and free meals in further education (see Annex D of the CAD).
The College Accounts Direction 2024 to 2025 can be downloaded here.
Regularity Self-Assessment Questionnaire
The DfE has published a Regularity Self-Assessment Questionnaire 2024 to 2025 (RSAQ) to provide clarity of the accountability framework, key considerations and the type of evidence Colleges may need to provide to their Reporting Accountant.
This must be prepared annually by the College to support its Accounting Officers in drafting their Statement of Regularity, Propriety and Compliance. Colleges must provide a copy of their completed RSAQ to the Reporting Accountant, signed by the Accounting Officer and counter-signed by the Chair of Governors.
The RSAQ provides for the Accounting Officer to be able to properly consider the measures that have been put in place to ensure compliance with the College Financial Handbook.
Further details and guidance can be found in Annex B of the College Accounts Direction and the Word document including the Regularity Self-Assessment Questionnaire 2024 to 2025 can be downloaded here.
College Financial Handbook 2024
The College Financial Handbook 2024 (the Handbook) was published by the ESFA (which has now been replaced by the DfE) in March 2024. It was effective from 1 August 2024 and will remain in force until updated or replaced by the DfE. It is therefore effective for college financial years to 31 July 2025.
The Handbook provides an overarching framework for the implementation of effective financial management and other controls required of publicly funded bodies. It seeks to help colleges meet the requirements placed on them by bringing together key financial requirements in a single place. It does not replace the college framework documents the DfE currently produces each year – the College Accounts Direction, College Financial Planning Handbook, and the Framework and Guide for External Auditors and Reporting Accountants of Colleges – but sits alongside them in what is now a cohesive suite of documents that makes it easy for colleges and their auditors to know what they need to do and how best to achieve a high level of financial management and reporting.
The Handbook continues to utilise ‘must’ and ‘should’ terminology to guide colleges on whether the Handbook requirements must be followed or should be required as a minimum good practice that colleges should apply, unless they can demonstrate that an alternative approach better suits their circumstances.
The College Financial Handbook 2024 can be downloaded here.
Framework and Guide for External Auditors and Reporting Accountants of Colleges
The Framework and Guide for External Auditors and Reporting Accountants of Colleges (the Framework and Guide) was published in March 2025 and will remain in force until it is replaced. It replaces the Post-16 Audit Code of Practice, which has now been withdrawn.
This Framework and Guide covers audit and regularity reporting in the college sector and applies to all external auditors and reporting accountants who provide statutory audits and regularity reviews to colleges.
The Framework and Guide’s purpose is to:
- Explain External Auditors’ obligations to issue an audit opinion as to whether the college’s annual accounts present a true and fair view
- Prescribe to External Auditors, in their role as Reporting Accountants, the requirements for their regularity review and report
- Help Governors (especially audit committee members), Accounting Officers, Chief Financial Officers and internal auditors understand the roles and responsibilities of External Auditors and Reporting Accountants.
The Framework and Guide should be read by External Auditors, Governors (especially audit committee members), Accounting Officers, Chief Financial Officers and Internal Auditors.
Academy trusts with post-16 provision (including any sixth-form colleges which have converted to academy status) are not covered by this Framework and Guide and their auditors and reporting accountants should refer to DfE’s equivalent framework for academy trust auditors.
The Framework and Guide also uses ’must’ and ‘should’ requirements in a similar manner to their use in the College Financial Handbook.
What has changed in the Framework and Guide?
This is the inaugural edition of the Framework and Guide, and it replaces the Post-16 Audit Code of Practice. It incorporates pre-existing requirements and guidance of the Post-16 Audit Code of Practice insofar as that document referred to the audit and regularity framework for Colleges.
The requirements in the Framework and Guide are essentially unchanged. In light of the publication of the College Financial Handbook, the DfE has included in Annex C their guidance to Reporting Accountants on areas where regularity testing should be focused.
The Framework and Guide for External Auditors and Reporting Accountants of Colleges can be downloaded here.
Good practice guidance for colleges and academy trusts on novel, contentious and repercussive transactions
In March 2025, the DfE also issued a good practice guidance on novel, contentious and repercussive transactions. This guidance applies to colleges and Academies Trusts, and can be found here.
Further detail on this guidance can also be seen at a previous blog we issued on Novel, Contentious and Repercussive transactions.
The next step
If you require any further information or assistance with the guidance noted above, please get in touch with Colin Wright at c.wright@uhy-uk.com, or your usual UHY education adviser.
