College Financial Statements and Returns 2023-24

6. In preparing their annual report and accounts, institutions are required to comply with the Accounts Direction issued on 18 September 2024.
7. The annual accounts review is an established part of SFC’s financial health monitoring framework.
8. Guidance on completing the spreadsheet return can be found at Annex A.
9. The documents needed to complete your electronic return are published on our website along with this Call for Information and include a blank copy of the spreadsheet return template; and checklist of required documents (Annex B). The template is unlocked so that it can be used in preparing the figures for the return. We would request that institutions complete the pre-populated return provided for submission to SFC.
10. Finance Directors will receive an individual spreadsheet which we have pre-populated with the 2022-23 comparative figures and June 2024 Financial Forecast Return (FFR) figures for 2023-24. For assigned colleges, we will send the pre-populated return to the RSB. If any changes are required to the 2022-23 figures due to prior year adjustments, institutions should advise SFC, or their RSB, of the amendments required and an updated return will be provided for completion.

11. Assigned colleges should submit their documentation to their RSB who will forward everything on to SFC. SFC will follow up any queries with the RSB.

12. The 2023-24 Accounts Direction referred to above provides guidance on the calculation of the adjusted operating position for institutions in paragraphs 17 to 20 of Appendix 2.
13. Institutions are required to submit a draft Adjusted Operating Position calculation, together with their draft accounts and actuarial report, to SFC for agreement prior to finalising their 2023-24 accounts.

Regional colleges and RSBs

14. If your institution has recorded any significant deterioration in its financial position for the current Academic Year (2024-25) compared to that set out in the 2024 FFR, please inform the relevant Senior Financial Analyst within the Finance directorate as soon as possible and provide a full commentary on the reasons for the deterioration. A list of the Senior Analyst portfolios is available on the SFC website.
15. Similarly, if any covenants relating to your institution’s borrowing have been or are likely to be breached within the next 12 months, please advise the relevant Senior Financial Analyst as soon as possible.

Assigned colleges

16. If your college has recorded any significant deterioration in its financial position for the current Academic Year (2024-25) compared to that set out in the 2024 FFR, please inform your RSB as soon as possible and provide a full commentary on the reasons for the deterioration. The RSB should inform the relevant Senior Financial Analyst.
17. Similarly, if any covenants relating to your college’s borrowing have been or are likely to be breached within the next 12 months, please advise your RSB as soon as possible. The RSB should inform the relevant Senior Financial Analyst.

18. Please contact Andrew Millar, Assistant Director, Finance (tel: 0131 313 6538; email: amillar@sfc.ac.uk) or Wilma MacDonald, Senior Financial Analyst, Finance (tel: 0131 313 6565; email: wmacdonald@sfc.ac.uk) to discuss any aspect of this communication.

Ursula Lodge CPFA
Deputy Director Institutional Sustainability & Capital

Completion of the financial statements spreadsheet

Explanations for significant variances

1. Please enter explanations for any significant variances in the columns provided. Providing comprehensive reasons for larger variances in the spreadsheet should reduce the number of questions we have after submission. Please use the explanations column to draw attention to anything you feel it would be useful for SFC to know.
2. When we have reviewed your spreadsheet, we will consider if there are any further matters we need to raise with you, or in the case of assigned colleges with your RSB, before concluding our consideration of your financial statements.

Which figures does the institution need to add?

3. All blue boxes in the worksheets should be completed. If the figure for an item is zero, please enter a “0” and do not simply leave the box blank. The revenue funding for non-SOCI payments and WGA sheets are not required for non-incorporated colleges.

Spreadsheet order

4. There are fourteen sheets in the spreadsheet that have boxes to be completed. We suggest that the order of completion is:

(i) Income.
(ii) Expenditure.
(iii) Pension contributions.
(iv) Statement of Comprehensive Income and Expenditure (SoCIE).
(v) Staffing efficiencies.
(vi) Balance Sheet.
(vii) Liquidity analysis.
(viii) Adjusted operating position.
(ix) Revenue funding non SOCI.
(x) Additional info (please complete all applicable sections).
(xi) Cashflow.
(xii) WGA Fixed asset breakdown.
(xiii) WGA Other info.
(xiv) Declaration.

5. A new sheet has been added to the return this year to collect information .
6. Please note that only whole numbers should be input into the spreadsheet. It is very important that you do not link the spreadsheet to another document or add additional columns or rows in any of the sheets in the workbook.

What explanation is the institution expected to provide?

7. If the movement in an item on last year’s results or on the 2024 FFR forecast is of a significant amount (variance +/- 5% or over 2% of total expenditure), please provide details of the reason for the variance in the explanation column.
8. Explanations should be genuinely insightful, giving clarity about the cause of a variance. This should reduce the number of queries arising from our review of the spreadsheet and accounts.