Purposes of Financial Returns
- to comply with Canon Law
- to comply with requirements of the Charity Commissioners
- to withstand HM Revenue & Customs scrutiny
- to form part of the Governors' annual report to parents
- to provide a record for successor governing bodies
- to help plan and budget for future school developments
- to ensure accountability to the Diocesan Trustees
Format of Financial Returns
The return is in two parts. The first part is the receipts and payments account. This shows the flow of funds in and out of the governors' fund throughout the year. The second part is the summary of funds at close. This gives a "snapshot" of the total funds available for governors' use at the year end.
Receipts and Payments Account
There is no differentiation between capital and revenue items. It is important to note that receipts and payments items should be entered as their gross amounts, and not netted off before entry. However two receipts entries are entered net – lettings and fund raising. If either item is in deficit it is entered as a negative amount.
Gift Aid donations are gifts given under the Gift Aid scheme. The tax rebate is claimed back from the Inland Revenue for these donations. Administrative expenses include all office costs as well as hospitality etc. Loans can be from the Diocese or other sources, and can be with or without interest charges.
The items entered are cash, cheque and bank orders given or received in the year concerned. The balances are the money balances held in cash and in banks or other financial institutions at the beginning and close of the year. Bank statements will need adjustment to incorporate all bank transactions up to year end.
Funds at Year End
Cash in bank is all monies held in financial institutions, eg banks, building societies, national savings etc. at year end. Overdrawn accounts are included in the figure given, so a negative value is possible. Cash in hand is loose cash held by the governors.
Receivables are monies owed to the governors such as, DfES grant claims made but not yet received at year end. This figure is the total amount due to be "received" by the school governors, and includes all transactions as known at year end.
Payables are funds owed to others, such as, loans owed to third parties, or invoices received but not yet paid at year end. This is the total amount due to be "paid out" by the governors and includes all transactions as known at year end.
The Total Funds figure can be negative if the school governors have a bank overdraft or through a large amount of payables due to others.
Accuracy
The figures in the financial returns should be to the nearest pound. No pence! Negative figures should be shown by brackets as (370) without a negative sign.
Examiner's Report
Two governors should be appointed to independently examine the School Governors' Fund accounts and books. This is not a formal audit. These examiners would not be cheque signatories to the Governors' bank accounts and they would not be members of any finance sub-committee. Although they do not need to be professional accountants, they would be expected to thoroughly scrutinise all receipts and payments.
Governors' Fund Annual Return Form
