As those running an academy may know, the removal of the option for academy trusts to defer filing their first accounts was quite a significant step, and a few academies were caught out early in the process

It used to be that any academy trust formed on or after 1st March could defer filing their first accounts to the following 31 August. There are two reasons for the removal of this option – the first was that the Companies Act 2006 did not allow any leeway for companies to produce accounts for a period of more than 18 months from incorporation, so this would bring academies in line with other sectors.

The second reason is that the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) now wants to ensure that all open trusts are included in their government accounts (known as SARA). In addition, academies and trusts are now required to adjust their year-end accounting date to 31st August with Companies House.

This can be tricky if not set up correctly in the first instance.

Finally, the Academies Accounts Direction (AAD) now requests that all trusts with a funding agreement AND an open academy in 2016/17 must submit audited accounts on time. So don’t get caught out. For an informal chat about specialist accounting advice for academies, why not contact Paul.Edwards@affordbond at our Nantwich accountant’s office, or use the contact form here on our website.