Important Financial Information b

This page includes information on current tasks, matters of importance, meetings and useful links. Your input is valuable and if you feel there is something that needs to be featured, please let us know at schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk or by telephoning Pat Clark/Sarah Pearce on 020 8760 5610

(01/12/08) We are intending to run Personnel 7, School Workforce Return workshops on the 15th and 16th of December, at Leon House, Room 8. There will be AM and PM sessions that will last for approximately 2 hours, the cost of which will be £50. Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis, to reserve a place please email lisa.butler@croydon.gov.uk.

(27/11/08) MORE VAT INFORMATION. Further to the changes in VAT outlined below click here to see information reagrding VAT and school meals.

(27/11/08) IMPORTANT VAT INFORMATION! Click here to access a sheet that explains changes that need to be made to your FMS6 System immediately. It is important that you take special care to read the principles at the bottom of the sheet that outline as and when to use the 15% or 17.5%. You are only able to pay invoices as they are seen, therefore you will need to seek a replacement if the invoice show the VAT incorrectly and is dated after 01/12/08. If you have a system other than FMS6 you will need to make similar changes. If your require any further help please contact your School Finance Adviser.

(26/11/08) The FMS6 Advanced and Equipment Register courses running next week are now full. If you wish to be put on the waiting list for the next courses pleases contact schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk. Thank you.

(25/11/08) Please note that there will be important information relating to VAT potsed here towards the end of the week.

(18/11/08) A list of all current Security Collection Staff is now available via a link on the left hand side of the Individual Schools Finance Page.

(18/11/08) All Croydon Schools are required to become a member of CLEAPPS. You have recieved a charge of £30.08 on your October Payment Demand, which you were originally informed of on the October School Bulletin; click here for an explanation.

(06/11/08) The DCSF Benchmarking Website is now based on data for 2007/08 for your use.

(06/11/08) There are spaces available on the following courses: - FMS6 Advanced on 02/12/08 and FMS6 Equipment Register on 03/12/08. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please email your interest to schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk. Thank you.

(30/10/08) The outline agenda is now available for the finance admin meetings. See link on left hand margin. Note still space on the secondary session 5/11 and the 6/11 am, 13/11 pm. Others are full.

(29/10/08) Funding Formula consultation meetings are to be held on Monday 3 November and Friday 7 November 2008. Please see 2009/2010 funding page for details of times, venues and the consultation proposals.

(14/10/08) Reorganisation within the Zurich (Insurance) Group It has come to our attention that Zurich has written to all individual policy holders, as they are obliged to do under FSA rules, notifying that certain policies issued by Zurich in the UK are to be transferred to a registered address in Ireland from 01.01.09. The letter, however, is for information only and no further action is required.

(06/10/08) Payment Demand
Due to an error, schools will be unable to reconcile their September bank statement. The value of the June payment demand has been charged instead of the August payment demand. This will be corrected in October, by crediting the incorrect charge and debiting the correct August amount. Apologies for this error.

(10/09/08) The dates for the Autumn Term 2008 Admin Meetings are now available by following the Admin Meeting link on the left hand side of this page.

(04/09/08) IMPORTANT! It is essential that schools' advise their payroll providers every September to inflate their TLR's by the cost of living. The TLR Adjustment form is designed to help you do this.

(04/09/08) Top Tips for Finance Admin Staff is information sheet designed to help with Finance Admin. You may find it useful to print this for reference.

(03/09/08) Over the Summer break we have been updating the Chart of Accounts listing. We have followed the same format as the codes appear on the Payment Demand, in an attempt to make it more user friendly. It is essential that the correct codes are used when completing forms i.e. new starters/income, for this reason we have also devised a guidance sheet. To see these documents please click the following links. Chart of Accounts Listing/Guidance Notes.

(26/08/08) Some schools will receive two payments this month on the 29th August. All the payments are needed to reconcile their records.

(11/08/08) It appears that the SLA charges are not including the full cost to schools of the Education Psychology Service. Schools should have received a letter from EPS explaining the charges but these are not yet reflected on the SLA notification that is on the schools individual page.

(07/08/08) A lot of back-dated information has been archived. If you need to find anything that is no longer on this page, you will be able to find it in the link below called "Archive".

(09/07/08) Update on the purchase card mentioned at the recent finance admin meetings.
The purchase card is a “credit card” but with debit card features. It is accepted as being appropriate for school use and is operated under the Croydon Council umbrella although all billing would be direct with the individual schools.
Some of you have expressed an interest in knowing more and actually enrolling for the card. Because of the need to get confirmation from governors it is too late for this term to start the process.
Over the summer we will put together the paperwork that schools need to be aware of and need to complete so that you can make a quick start next term. This will be announced here on the Finance Matters page.
Meanwhile if you are interested in using the card please email schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk.

(08/07/08) Please note the 'Fund Correction' on your bank statement (16 June) is due to over payment on your 4% Delegated May funding.

(04/07/08) This is information sent to us from a school, the Royal Mail are going to charge schools to keep their post when it can not be delivered during the school holidays because the school is closed. The service is called 'Business Keepsafe' the cost quoted is about 42p per day and you have to complete an application form. If you want more information you can call 08457 740 740 or go to the website www.royalmail.com/safe.

(30/6/08) The June funding sheets are now linked on your individual school finance pages.

(19/06/08) A Package of Support for Schools on Value for MoneyThe DCSF have secured three years of funding for all state schools to receive a day’s free consultancy work from a partner called Avail. They will guarantee coming to your school on one of three nominated dates provided by schools. They have 80 consultants based around the country. They will talk to the Head and Bursar/SBM/Finance Officer, possibly the Chair of Governors about all aspects of VfM. They will cover a wide range of subject matter including Strategic Management, Partnerships/Collaboration and the wider school workforce. They also have various tools to utilise including templates and case studies. More details can be found by visiting www.standards.dfes.gov.uk and clicking on the VfM website. The ‘looking for further support’ section is where you can arrange your visit. It may be possible to arrange a presentation on this subject by a representative from Avail. Please contact us at schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk if you think this would be of use.

(19/06/08) I am sure you check your bank statements each month against your system but you also need to be alert to other clues that indicate things may have gone wrong. We wish to alert you that a Croydon school has had a cheque intercepted in the post and the cheque presented to the bank with a vastly increased amount. Fortunately the school noticed in their statement from the company that the cheque had not been cashed and thus the school took steps to investigate why. This meant they were able to stop the cheque in advance of receiving their bank statement.

(18/06/08) E-Procurement for Schools presentation by the DCSF.At the recent Primary Admin Meetings, a new piece of software relating to eProcurement called OPEN (online procurement of educational needs) was discussed. The response was favourable, so we have arranged for a representative from the DCSF to make a number of presentations to schools and other interested parties on Wednesday 9^th July 2008 at Leon House, floor 8, room 4. The number of sessions lasting around 1.5 hours will depend on take up. Each session can hold around 30 places, so initially we are planning two sessions at 10.00 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. Please email in to schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk to book your place.

(13/06/08) There are spaces available on the following courses: - FMS6 Advanced on 02/07/08 - This course is now closed. We are accepting names for the waiting waiting list., FMS6 Equipment Register on 11/07/08 and FMS6 Accounts Recievable on 26/06/08 - This Course is now full. We are accepting names for the waiting list. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please email your interest to lisa.butler@croydon.gov.uk. Thank you.

(13/06/08) REMINDER! This is to remind all Non Buy Back Schools' that they need to submit their Final CFR returns by 30th June 2008. To enable you to do this you need to ensure that you are using 6.100 version of FMS6.

(10/06/08) The May payment demand sheets are now linked and available on your individual school finance pages.

(02/06/08) A page for the Funding for Schools and PVIs from 2009/2010 has been set up and new information about Early Years funding has been included. Link is on the left margin.

(02/06/08) Summer 2008 Finance Officer Meetings - if you wish to attend then it is only the primary meetings this week that have more than a couple of vacancies other than the meeting for secondary age.

(27/05/08) Summer 2008 Finance Officer Meetings- The proposed Agenda for these meetings is now available by following the Admin Meeting link on the left hand side of this page.

(13/05/08) FMSiS review by DCSF. The workshop has been arranged for the morning of 4th June 2008 at Leon House. There are still a handful of vacancies and if you are interested in attending then please email schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk

(13/05/08) Some of you may have received an electricity bill from Eon. If you are in the corporate contract DO NOT PAY IT as the charge will arrive on the payment demand. Interserve are investigating why this has happened.

(07/5/08) The April payment demand sheets are now linked and available on your individual school finance pages.

(06/05/08) Some schools will have realised that the adhoc funding at the end of April was more than they expected. This was due to the 4% delegated funding being included again! At this stage the plan is to deduct the excess funding from the next delegated funding in mid May and so schools will only receive 4% instead of the normal 8%. If you have any queries please contact Isaac Nai or David Dilling on the above number.

(30/04/08) The dates for the Summer Term 2008 Admin Meetings are now available by following the Admin Meeting link on the left hand side of this page.

(30/4/08) We have now received all the year end schedules and CFR reports for 2007/2008. May we take this opportunity to thank all schools for enabling us to meet the very tight deadline that was set this year. The process has gone smoothly and we are planning to give some feedback at the upcoming Admin Meetings (see link for dates). If the relevant year end schedules that require signing by the Headteacher and Chair of Governors (4) can be emailed to schools.finance@croydon.gov.uk asap and no later than Friday 16th May 2008, that would be much appreciated.

(30/4/08) The April funding sheets are now linked on your individual school finance pages.

(10/04/08) An even later version of the year end schedules is now available that has the correct year and formula at the bottom of schedule 3. If possible please use this version.

(01/04/08) The year end schedules 2007/2008 have been updated to include the full year funding for 2007/2008 and a few other corrections to formula etc. Schools not buying back into the finance SLA should use this latest version to complete their returns.

(01/4/08) The March payment demand sheets are now linked and available on your individual school finance pages.