Academy Audit Season

Tis the season to be jolly! No, not Christmas: Autumn. Obviously, we are referring to the Academy audit season. The 31^st August has passed, the summer holidays are a distant memory and you are trying to find enough hours in the day to process all the returning teacher’s orders whilst completing your own year-end processes.

Sound familiar? Here are our top tips for Academy Business Managers:

• If you have not already done so, set your AGM and finance committee meeting dates.
• Provide your auditor with the dates and agree a timetable for preparing the accounts and carrying out the audit. Work backwards from the ultimate deadline and ensure you give enough time.
• Manage your other roles and responsibilities. Allocate a couple of mornings a week to more routine jobs such as ordering goods and paying suppliers. Don’t assume there is nobody else who can help you with your responsibilities. If you don’t ask, you won’t get! Your role now includes a wide range of responsibilities, some of which your colleagues will be able to help with!
• Read your audit planning pack. We tell you the information we will require and give you a checklist to tick off each item. Many of these items will be accessible by more than just you, therefore again ask for help.
• Inform the Trustees of when their annual report is required. As the name suggests this is to be written by the Trustees not you.
• If you are unsure or even struggling to complete all your roles talk to us. We would like the process to run as smoothly as you would. Contrary to popular belief, we are not the enemy!
• Finally, don’t leave it all until last minute. The ESFA deadlines already restrict the time to complete the audit and accounts, don’t make it worse!

Whether you are currently audited by Forrester Boyd or not please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns about your current audit process.