Walsall Children’s Services Closedown Process for 2018-19 Financial Year

1. Walsall Children’s Services Closedown Process for 2018-19 Financial Year

2. Definitions of the Accounting Processes Involved at Financial Year End • Creditor Provision: • Creditor provision has the effect of accruing into the financial year in which the order was placed the value of a purchase order (either debit or credit) where the goods/services have been received, but not invoiced for. • The value of orders will show as a credit in the new financial year where the accrual was a debit against the 2018-19 financial year or a debit in the new financial year where the accrual was for a credit against the 2018-19 financial year. • In addition, creditor provision will apply where an invoice has been received and processed but not validated for payment by a specified deadline. 2 Prior Year Commitments: • Prior year commitments relate to expenditure committed against an order placed in the 2018-19 financial year, where goods/services have not been delivered/received. • Applies also to orders where goods/services have been delivered/received by 31st March 2019 but the order value is less than a specified amount. • In addition commitment sheets must include all invoices received & dated prior to 31st March 2019, that have a value of less than a specified amount and were not validated for payment by 28th March 2019 and therefore will not show as paid on the March transactions report. • Prior Year Commitments have no impact on the old or new financial year, but should be noted as commitments within overall year end balances. 1.

3. Definitions of the Accounting Processes Involved at Financial Year End (continued) • Receipts in Advance: • A receipt in advance will allow income received in the old financial year, which will not be spent by 31st March 2019, to be carried forward to the new financial year, subject to the income conditions/criteria, allowing the expenditure to take place in the new financial year e.g. A grant covering an academic year. • Has the effect of reducing income received in the old financial year and crediting the new financial year. • Payment in Advance: • A payment in advance refers to invoices dated and paid before 31st March 2019 which relate to services for the 2019-2020 financial year. • A payment in advance allows for the expenditure to be accrued to the new financial year. • Has the effect of crediting the old financial year and debiting the new. • External Debtor Invoice Accruals: • An external debtor refers to an invoice raised by a school which relates to income due for services provided in 2018-2019. • Has the effect of accruing income into the old financial year prior to the income being received and debiting the new financial year until the income has been received. 2.

4. Year end processes for Schools who pay their own invoices i.e. Direct users of Oracle • In order for invoices to be included on the March 2019 transactions reports, all invoices must be entered on the Oracle system and validated by: 1:00pm on Thursday 28th March 2019 Creditor Provision Schedule (appendix 1) to include: • Invoices with a value of £1,000 or more but not validated by the date above will be subject to the creditor provision process. • Where goods/services for orders/items with a value of £1,000 or more have been delivered but NO invoice has been received, or the invoice date is after the 31st March 2019, these orders will be subject to the creditor provision process. • Direct Oracle users are required to submit their Creditors Schedule via email no later than 12:00 noon Tuesday 9th April 2019. • Credit notes MUST be recorded on a separate Creditors provision schedule (appendix1a) • School are reminded that a NIL return MUST be submitted where NO Creditor Provision is required. 3. 3.

5. Year end processes for Schools who pay their own invoices i.e. direct users of Oracle - continued Prior Year Commitments:(appendix 2) Must include: • All 2018-19 orders where the goods or services were not delivered by the end of March 2019. • In addition orders where delivery has taken place but these orders have a value of less than £1,000 and therefore should not be included on Creditor Schedules. • To also include, invoices with a value of less than £1,000 not validated for payment by 1:00pm on the Thursday 28th March 2019, as these will not be included as a transaction on the March transactions reports and as their value is below the specified minimum for inclusion on Creditor Schedules i.e. £1,000 • Deadline for the submission of Prior Year Commitment sheets is 12:00 noon on Tuesday 9thApril 2019 –this must be submitted via email as an xls document. (pdf documents cannot be accepted) • Schools are reminded that a NIL return must be submitted where no Prior Year Commitments are required Capital Spend from Revenue and Devolved Formula Capital • a statement template can be found on The Link (within School Finance area) • Statements of capital spend from revenue income i.e. Delegated budget & DFC to be submitted by Friday 15th February 2019 • If you do not have any capital Spend please submit a NIL Return • Capital statement should be emailed to: Robert.page@walsall.gov.uk 4.

6. Schools processing their invoices via Transaction Team • Those schools who use the School Finance transaction team to process their invoices should continue to process and submit invoices as normal • Note: Invoices received by the School Finance transaction team after Monday 4thMarch 2019 onwards may be subject to the accruals process via creditor provision schedule, see below: Creditor Provision (appendix 1): A Creditor Schedule must be completed to include: • Invoices with a value of £1,000 or more but not validated by 1:00 pm on Thursday 28th March 2019 – invoices not validated by the specified date will be those not appearing on the March transactions report • Where goods/services for orders/items with a value of £1,000 or more have been delivered but either NO invoice has been received, or the invoice date is after the 31st March 2019, these orders will also be subject to the Creditor provision process. • Please note: Credit notes mustbe recorded on a separate Creditors Schedule (appendix 1a). • The deadline for the submission of completed Creditor Schedule is • 12:00 noon on Tuesday 9th April 2019 • Schools are reminded that a NIL return must be submitted where no Creditor Provision is required 5.

7. Schools processing their invoices via Transaction Team - continued Prior Year Commitments:(appendix 2) Must include: • All 2018-19 orders where the goods or services were not delivered by the end of March 2019. • Orders where delivery has taken place but orders have a value of less than £1,000 and therefore will not be included on Creditor Schedules. • In addition,must include invoices with a value of less than £1,000 not validated for payment by 1:00p.m. Thursday 28thMarch 2019, therefore not showing as paid on the March transactions report, as their value is below the specified minimum for inclusion on Creditor Schedules. • Deadline for the submission of Prior Year Commitment sheets is Tuesday 9thApril 2019 - this must be submitted via email as an .xls document • Schools are reminded that a NIL return must be submitted where no Prior Year Commitments are required • Capital Spend from Revenue – template can be found on The Link (within School Finance area) • Statements of Capital spend from revenue income i.e. Delegated budget to be submitted by Friday 15th February 2019to Richard Walley • If you do not have any Capital Spend please submit a NIL Return to Richard Walley email: richard.walley@walsall.gov.uk 6.

8. Schools processing their invoices via Transaction Team (continued) • It is recommended that from 4th March 2019, before forwarding for payment, all invoices should be entered onto either your Prior year Commitment sheet or a Creditor Schedule, as appropriate i.e. those less than £1,000 on Prior Year Commitment sheet, those above £1,000 on Creditor Schedule. • In addition the details & value of all outstanding and new purchase orders, where goods/services have not been delivered, should be entered onto a Prior Year Commitment sheet. • For goods/services subsequently received during March, where the order/item value is £1,000 or more, the respective order details can be deleted from Prior Year Commitment sheets and added to Creditor Schedules. • Invoices with a value of £1,000 or more received after 1st March 2019 should be deleted from the Prior Year Commitment sheets and the details recorded on the Creditor Schedules. • Invoices with a value of £1,000 or more, recorded on the Creditor Schedule, see above, which subsequently appear on the March transactions report as paid in March, should be deleted from the Creditor Schedule prior to submission • Invoices with a value of less than £1,000, remain on the Prior Year Commitment sheets and should only be deleted from the commitment sheet if the invoice is showing as paid on the March transactions report. Schools will be required to submit the completed Prior Year Commitments to the LA by 12:00 noon Tuesday 9th April 2019 – please submit as an .xls document 7.

9. Closedown 2018-19 Key Dates/Actions: 4thMarch 2019 Create and maintain list of Prior Year Commitments (appendix 2) and Creditor Provision Schedules (appendix 1 & 1a) 15th February 2019 Deadline for Statement of Capital Spending from delegated revenue funding 28th March 2019 Last day for invoices to be validated and recorded as paid on the March transactions reports 28th March 2019 Deadline for submission of Receipts in Advance (appendix 3) & External Debtors Invoice (appendix 5) 3rd April 2019 Schools with access to Qlikview should download their March 2019 transactions list on Wednesday 3rd April and delete paid items from Prior Year Commitments and/or Creditor Schedules, as appropriatebefore submission to the LA. 3rd April 2019March transactions reports will be uploaded for all schools to access via S2S on Wednesday 3rd April 2019 and should be used to amend the Prior Year Commitments and/or creditor Schedules as appropriate before submission to the LA. 9th April 2019 Deadline for submission of all, Creditor provision, Payments in Advance schedules and Prior Year commitment sheets to be submitted to School Finance no later than 12:00 noon on Tuesday 9th April 2019. 26th April 2019 2018-19 Closedown Reports 8.