Version 3.3
Updated 3 Ocober 2016
Budget Monitoring Objectives
This workbook is intended to be used by schools to complete the statutory requirement that schools should submit regular budget monitoring returns to the Local Authority.A key part of Budget Monitoring is to reconcile your system to WiSER. Your WiSER cost centres are your accounts, so they must be correct. Your CFR returns are sent to the DFE, but so are the council accounts which include your WiSER cost centres. These are then both checked to ensure that they match and, if they don’t, we will be asked to explain any differences.
We do not intend to make this task any more difficult than necessary, so do bear in mind that, for the purposes of our checks, we are only comparing WISE and FMS6 at CFR code level. Schools may therefore simply complete the return at CFR code level.Please be aware however that we may still ask you for the more detailed level of information, if we have any concerns when looking at reports to CFR level only.
Although we are only checking your reports at CFR level, accuracy in predicting the year end figures is still of key importance. Please do give careful consideration to the anticipated income / expenditure to year end and also complete the Comments column providing details of how you have calculated the figures. This will provide information for both you and your Head/Governors when considering this return and will minimise LA queries.
Each school will receive their own tailored returnfor their current cost centres set up on WISERin the first week of October and January. For example, if you have a separate cost centre for Behaviour funding you will receive two plans. Primrose Hill will be used as an example and can be found on our website for training purposes.
The workbook consists of three worksheets the first being the Header tab which is the reconciliation and sign off sheet. The second is Summary tab which summarises the return by CFR code. The final sheet is the Budget Monitoring tab which is the detail input sheet.
Before completing the return
Reconcile FMS6 to WiSER. Please see below the guidance sent out in previous years (in green) which may help you decide which route you want to follow in submitting your Imprest Claim / reconciling to WiSER. Please include a copy of the “dummy” bank claim breakdown from FMS6 so we can verify the local spending.
To make this as easy as possible for yourselves, there are two ways to tackle this in October/January…
IF YOU DID AN IMPREST CLAIM FOR INCLUSION IN THE SEPTEMBER/DECEMBER WISER REPORT and have not written any cheques/processed income since
1.don’t write any cheques
2.reconcile December WiSER, putting on any salaries & central payments/receipts
3.WiSER and FMS6 should now be exactly in line
4.run the I&E report to Month 13, CFR and fund review*
5.complete the budget monitoring – you should not have to adjust for local spending
IF YOU HAVE WRITTEN ANY CHEQUES/PROCESSED INCOME SINCE YOUR LAST IMPREST CLAIM
1.process any outstandinginvoices/income you have receivedand write the cheques
2.do an imprest claim the next day (you can delete this if you don’t want to send it in, this is what we call a dummy imprest)
3.reconcileSeptember/ December WiSER, putting on any salaries & central payments/receipts
4.run the I&E report to Month 13, CFR and fund review*
5.complete the budget monitoring – you will have to adjust for local spending by putting the detail amounts from the imprest claim in the column or the total without Capital and VAT in box provided
Either way, you are doing the monitoring just after running a claim and reconciling wise which will mean that you should not have any other adjustments to do.
* don’t worry about it being to last day of the monthexactly, just make sure all reports are run at the same time.
Run the required reports(CFR, I&E to Month 13, Fund Review) at the same time so that all figures match. If the reports don’t match the budget monitoring will be returned
Header Tab
Reconcilliation of Budget Monitoring to FMS6 and WiSER
Balance Remaining - This is calculated automatically and will show the current balance remaining for 2016/17.
Private Fund - This will only need to be entered if you have entered your private fund on FMS6.(This will show as non cfr income/expenditure). We need this simply because it is not on WiSER so we need to take it into account when reconciling your figures.
Capital - Please enter the Opening balance (- negative) and the total Capital Income (- negative) / Expenditure (+ positive) figures from page 3 of the CFR report.
Balance FMS6 and WiSER - Please enter the last figure on page 5 of your I&E report as a negative
Imprest Claim Not Yet Reimbursed –This is bringing forward the total of the Imprest Claim Not Yet Reimbursed (Column P) on the Budget Monitoring tab. You can overwrite this formula if required. If you do, enter the amount without VAT and Capital.
Dummy Imprest Claim - This is bringing forward the total of the Dummy Imprest Claim (Column Q) on the Budget Monitoring tab. You can overwrite this formula if required. If you do, enter the amount without VAT and Capital.
The discrepancy here should be zero. Please investigate any other figure and correct and put in an explanation for any variance ion the box below.
Estimated Carry Forward/Deficit at the END of the Year
The Anticipated Carry Forward(- negative)/Deficit (+ positive) at Year End and Carry Forward as % of Total Income will calculate automatically. If this balance includes money held on behalf of your cluster the amount and description should be entered in order to deduct it from the Excess Balance Calculation.
The value and percentage of the Anticipated Carry Forward/Deficit after any necessary deduction will calculate automatically. The Scheme for Financing Schools contains the Excess Balance Mechanism and calculator. Currently the rates are set at 8% for Primary, Special schools and PRU’s and 5% for Secondary schools. If the answer is YES then an explanation MUST be provided in the box below.
Below this, are two boxes showing the forecast variances. For the September monitoring the Previous Forecast Variance will be zero but for December it will show the September total unless the Previous Forecast column on the Budget monitoring tab has been overwritten and used for include other data.
Further boxes are provided for the necessary signatures of the person completing the budget monitoring, the Head Teacher and The Chair of Governors.
Summary Tab
This tab is a summary at CFR level of the information complete on the Budget Monitoring tab. No forecast changes should be entered on this tab. Changes must be entered on the Budget Monitoring tab. If your school prefers to complete the return at CFR rather than detailed level then you can complete your current forecast on one appropriate line of the detail tab.
Budget Monitoring Tab
This tab will be populated with your budget and actuals year to date. The Previous Forecast will be blank in your September template. You need to populate it with either your budget or YTD actuals (whichever you prefer). In December it will have the forecast from the September return. If you have an imprest which is outstanding for reimbursement or a dummy imprest which has been run to capture expenditure or income on FMS6 but not yet in WiSER you can enter the amounts in the columns grouped behind (use the + at the top of the column to expand) Column R. The key thing is that the Latest Forecast column (Column R) reflects the amount of income /expenditure you expect on that line at the 31st March 2017. You can update the forecast in several ways.
1The Latest Forecast (Column R) will be calculated automatically on the basis of the previous forecast added to any amount entered in the Dummy Imprest claim or Imprest to be Reimbursed and Changes/Amendments Columns.
2You can rename these columns and copy data in to use the formula to make the final calculation. If you use the imprest related columns like this you will need to overwrite the final totals carrying through to the Header tab.
3You can complete your new forecast total amount directly into Latest Forecast (Column R).
4Please ensure there is no value forecast for RZUNB and RZUNR (unallocated expenditure). There should be no spend on these lines, only budget.
Regardless of how you calculate the values for your anticipated year end position, please remember to comment on significant variances in the column on the right hand side.
If you need to include a forecast on a budget line which does not appear on your template then you can do this at the bottom of the Budget Monitoring Tab. Ensure you add the CFR code so this amount is captured on the Summary Tab totals.
Submission of the return
Upon completion of the budget monitoring it must now go through the approval process and the Header tab should be signed. A complete return is made up of the workbook together with scanned versions of the reports used to complete the return - the Fund Review, Proposed CFR, pages 4 and 5 of your I&Eand the FMS6 prints of the dummy imprest if necessary. A scanned image of the signed Header sheet is required but can follow if this would delay timely submission of the return. The return should be returned to the Schools Finance Helpdesk by the deadline.
Should you have any queries please contact the Schools Finance Helpdesk in the first instance.
Version 3.2Review Date 23/08/2016Page 1