Have the ESFA Good Practice Guides been updated?

The ESFA continues to update its good practice guides which can be accessed from the ESFA website here. You can also see a list of the most recent updates that specify exactly what has changed.

The ESFA Good Practice guides were introduced when academy trusts were required to begin producing reports on financial information they had no previous experience in, and no previous examples of such reporting to follow. In 2019 the ESFA produced a number of 'good practice' guides on financial management and assurance.

The good practice currently contains the following guides:

• Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)
• Operating an academy trust as a going concern
• Choosing an external auditor for an academy trust
• Academy trust deficit recovery
• Academy trust risk management
• Leasing guidance for academy trusts
• Academy trust management accounting
• Internal scrutiny in academy trusts
• Academy trust management letters
• External audit preparation checklist for academy trusts guidance
• External audit preparation checklist

These guides are for trustees, accounting officers, executive leaders and chief financial officers.

ESFA update

The ESFA also continues to release regular e-bulletins. These are useful sources of information containing key updates such as funding updates and upcoming deadlines.

The bulletins are currently issued weekly.

Anyone can subscribe to these updates through the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/search/news-and-communications/email-signup?organisations%5B%5D=education-and-skills-funding-agency