Blogs/Vlogs

August Accounts Returns: need it be so difficult?

24 January 2017

As you are no doubt aware, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) recently decided to scrap the spreadsheet version of the August Accounts Returns (AAR) in favour of an online form for 15/16 AARs submitted after 31 December 2016. The deadline for online form returns is 31 January 2017.

It’s safe to say that the new online version of the form has not been well received by schools or their respective auditors. The fact that only six (out of more than 2,500) AARs had been submitted by 17 January using the online form goes some way to proving that the new system has not been without issue.

Main issues include:

  • less than clear guidance on accessing and registering for the online form process;
  • UK Hub website being down/subject to scheduled maintenance overruns/extremely slow;
  • form data loss, both partial and complete; and
  • difficulty in setting up auditors for assistance with preparation and/or review.

With the majority of auditors heavily assisting, if not completing, AARs on behalf of their clients, problems in this area have caused a huge influx of queries to the EFA Helpdesk. The EFA responded last week with updated guidance and troubleshooting advice, including a handy checklist, to work around registration and set up issues.

Despite the new guidance, there remains a massive backlog of queries for the EFA to handle, and it is highly unlikely these will all be resolved prior to the 31 January deadline.  The issues highlighted provide a strong case for extending the deadline; however nothing official has been announced at this stage.* We will, of course, keep you informed of any such announcements.

If you would like to discuss any of the issues highlighted in this blog, please contact your nearest academy expert or complete our online contact form. Alternatively, if you would like to read more academy focused blogs, please click here.

*Since publication of this blog, the EFA has announced the extension of the deadline to 28 February 2017.

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