FMSWire - Edition 3
Supplier NewsletterThis article sits within the Supplier Newsletter sectionWelcome to the third edition of the FMSWire, informing you of updates, developments and timelines of the DfE’s academies chart of accounts and automation.
This edition has important updates that you need to take note of for the forth coming accounts return and the next financial year.
Please also note that from today, to contact us via our new helpdesk rather than via individual or admin' e-mail addresses. See the 'NEW helpdesk' article below for more information.
The migration of the access system for the DfE’s financial returns has had a major impact on this years development timetable as you will read below, and as a result we have still not been able to release a new version of the ‘developer guide’ and associated webpage update. This will be updated as soon as the issues outlined below are resolved.
Best wishes,
Academies Chart of Accounts and Automation Team
We are really hoping for a big increase in the number of trusts using automation for this years AR and we can only do this with your help. Numbers of trusts who have used automation, by FMS provider, are published on the Choosing a trust's financial management system.
Ahead of the academies accounts return, we'd like to ask FMS software providers to promote automation with their clients by providing webinars, tutorials and guidance about the benefits of automation, how to use it in your software and the support you and the DfE can provide to trusts during the automation process.
We have recently delivered joint webinars to trusts, led by two FMS software providers, which have worked really well to spread the word and demonstrate how easy the automation process is.
Following a suggestion from one of the FMS suppliers, the DfE will be sending out a checklist to all trusts in September, so that trusts who are automating their financial data will have the correct reference data they need and a checklist to maximise the efficiency of the automation process.
If you have any other ideas about how to improve the automation experience for trusts, or if you wish to meet to discuss how you can work directly with your clients or jointly with the DfE, please get in touch with us via our Zendesk helpdesk.
We previously updated you that we are migrating the accounts returns access service from IDAMS to DfE Sign In (DSI).
Trust and auditor accounts return users were migrated over to DSI in May, existing users will have had an email informing them of their new DSI user roles for each financial return they manage, this includes those with a Data Transfer Approver role used for automation.
FMS providers will also need to access the test environments using a DSI login with newly allocated test credentials (see ‘Supplier test account’ feature).
The migration of the FMS API has now been completed in all environments except production. FMS software providers are not required to make any system changes as this uses a redirect URL, but you should be mindful that there will be a change to the branding of the access screen which you may have used in your training and/or guidance documentation.
New test accounts and profiles need to be assigned within DfE Sign-in and test data initialised. However, we are currently unable to issue these new test account credentials for you to test your automation functionality with the accounts return 2023/24 test environment.
Our previous mailinator test accounts have now been replaced with OCS test accounts for added security. You will therefore no longer be able to use your old test accounts.
We are working with colleagues on a range of solutions to deal with new access protocols for external companies so that we can issues test accounts as soon as possible. We appreciate that this holds up your development and test schedule, but for existing suppliers the updates should only be testing with the academies CoA version 6.3.0 and ensuring the new redirect URL to DfE Sign-in is working.
Please be assured that we are treating this as a matter of priority. Once we have a solution, we will provide updates to the necessary documentation, issue test accounts and contact you to arrange product confidence demo’s to test the end to end process.
If you have any questions, please reach out via our helpdesk and we'll do our best to help.
The accounts return on-line form launch date has been delayed. The form was due to go live on 12th September 2024 and this will now be live by 5th November 2024. The submission deadline remains unchanged at 28th January 2025.
While we understand that this shorter preparation window may impact on trusts, there is historically very little activity within the form during the months of September and October. It does, however, provide some breathing space for the delayed software testing that you will need to complete prior to the form going live.
We always advise you to test sending your API solution to the DfE’s accounts return in the production environment with a trust who is willing to volunteer to send their data soon after the form is live. Therefore, if you are planning to do this, we suggest arranging this in early November.
The latest versions of the academies CoA were made available on our webpages on 18th June 2024.
- version 6.3.0 for 2023/34 – there are no new or deleted account codes but software providers must which includes many BFR mapping changes if they use mapping in the software which generates reports
- version 7.0.0 for 2024/25 – software providers should update account codes available in their clients software with effect from 1st September 2024
New versions can be found on the academies chart of accounts and automating the accounts return webpage: GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Any changes to the academies CoA will be listed on the change control tab within the spreadsheet.
Some of you have already made us aware of a couple of changes that need to be made which we e-mailed you about. We will release a revised version as soon as we are able to, but if you have any questions about the new academies CoA versions, please get in touch.
Our FMS provider helpdesk is now available for you to use.
We have sent out a launch e-mail including a short video introduction. For those who are unfamiliar with the Zendesk platform, we recommend watching it so you can get the best experience out of this resource. The video can also be found within the knowledge base, within the 'Help desk help guide' article.
All communications should now be directed through Zendesk so that issues and queries are all logged and monitored in one place.
Zendesk also contains a banner message and a knowledge base suite of articles which will aim to answer some of your queries, without the need for you to raise a ticket.
This helpdesk is solely for the use of FMS software providers, however, where the DfE have received a issue or query from a trust that is related to their FMS service/product, we will create a ticket for them and contact you for assistance via Zendesk.
The BFR is now live and the deadline for submission is 29th August 2024.
The BFR has successfully been pre-populated with prior year data for those trusts that automated their 2022/23 Accounts Return.
BFR guidance for new ICT expenditure information
New fields have been added to the BFR to capture information about trusts forecasted ICT expenditure. If your clients approach you to ask about account codes or reports to complete this information:
- for revenue expenditure, we have published specific BFR ICT guidance to deal with the interim reporting for 2023/24 ahead of the new account codes being added for 2024/25, review sections 5 and 6
- for the breakdown of capital expenditure, we have suggested trusts use the sixth digit of the DfE account code or the activity/product codes available within their FMS software to breakdown ICT capital costs, and also speak to their FMS provider about setting up bespoke reports if they are not able to create their own, review section 7 of the guidance.
- All correspondence should now come via our Zendesk helpdesk.
- Please take a minute to leave some comments about this newsletter here
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