MAT DfE Accounts Return

• Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) are groups of Academy schools in England that have come together to form a charitable company. The Academy schools are state-funded institutions that receive funding directly from the Department for Education (DfE) and are independent of local authority control.

• MATs vary in size, with some overseeing just a few schools, while others manage up to 90 schools.

• Accounts Return (AR) is an annual financial return that MATs must complete and submit to the DfE, which provides information about the trust’s financial position, income, expenditure, and other relevant details.

  This AR can be submitted manually by going to the DfE site and typing in everything. But, as there are many codes to enter, there is an API that allows an automation of that process, which will send the data direct to the DfE site. The submitted data will be stored in a holding area on the DfE site where the user can login to accept or reject that submission. Once accepted, the User can fill in the rest of the AR form.

  Note

  Users will need to have the appropriate Permissions on their User roles in order for them to be able to view submissions and submit returns.

• Further guidance can be found on the DfE Government Website

How to view MAT DfE Accounts Return

Viewing MAT DfE AR

Select Period End / MAT DfE AR from the Main section of the pulse menu -

Note

This is an example screen shot of the pulse menu.

Position of the menu items within pulse will vary according to available options and dependant on personal screen resolution.

or from the Main Menu select Period End then MAT DfE AR -

or enter MAT DfE AR in the Quick Launch Side Menu.

This will then show all the MAT DfE AR groups on the system.

Tip

To modify the columns displayed, select in the top right of the page, then tick/untick the information you want to see or not.

How to set up MAT DfE Accounts Return

Setting up MAT DfE Accounts Return

1. Select MAT DfE AR from one of the options as shown above in Viewing MAT DfE AR.

2. Press New.

   

3. Enter the following required fields in the Trust details section.

   

   • Code: Unique code to help identity the AR Group.

   • Description: Unique description to identity the AR Group.

   • Trust Legal entity: Enter Legal entity that represents the MAT.

   • Trust UPIN: Enter the 6 figure, unique identifier for the MAT.

   The following are optional fields.

   • Trust Registration number: Company House number for the MAT.

   • Trust UKPRN: UKPRN for the MAT.

4. In the Academy Entities tab, enter the Legal entities that makes up this MAT.

   

   Press Select to add new Academies.

   • Legal entity: Enter Legal entity that represents the Academy.

     Note

     If an academy moves between two trusts in the same iplicit system, then a new legal entity needs to be created.

   • Description: Unique description to identify the Academy.

   • Local authority number: Enter the 7 figure, unique identifier for the Academy in the format 123-4567 (the '-' will auto populate).

   The following are optional fields - Upin and Urn.

   Note

   If trying to Lock and Delete where a submission already exists, this will return the following message.

   

How to map iplicit codes to DfE codes

Mapping to DfE Codes

• The DfE has a list of recognised codes. Mappings are an iplicit concept to allow MATs to transform iplicit codes that aren't in the DfE CoA into a DfE code for the purpose of the AR.

• MAT Customers are setup initially with the default set of DfE Chart of Accounts as at the time of setup.

• It is responsibility of the MAT to update any new Chart of Account codes if the DfE introduce more after the setup date.

1. Select MAT DfE AR from one of the options as shown above in Viewing MAT DfE AR.

2. The CoA Mapping tab allows the User to map an iplicit code to a DfE mapping.

   

3. This takes you to DfE Accounts return CoA mapping groups.

   

4. You will now create a Mapping Group for a set Financial year.

5. Select which Accounts to match.

   

   • iplicit account code:

     

   • DfE account code: DfE account code to map to.

     Note

     DfE Account codes are all 6 digits, ending in zero e.g. 123450 is accepted, but 123456 is rejected as it doesn't end in zero.

     

6. Select Create.

7. Refreshing the DfE Accounts return group will now show the new CoA Mapping Group and the individual mappings within it.

   

   • Select Add to add another CoA Mapping Group.

     

   • Select Edit to change the CoA Mapping Group, including adding or removing mappings.

     

   • Select Copy to copy CoA Mapping Group e.g. to duplicate codes to another Financial year and then adding extra codes.

     

How to view previous Submissions

Viewing previous submissions

1. Select MAT DfE AR from one of the options as shown above in Viewing MAT DfE AR.

2. The Submissions tab allows the User to view previous submissions.

   

   This will show the Date of the submission and the User who made the submission.

   The list will show successful and failed submissions and will allow the User to filter between both.

   

How to Submit MAT DfE Accounts Return

Submitting MAT DfE Accounts Return

• Before submitting the MAT DfE Accounts Return, the Financial Year that is being submitted must have the Accounts closed off and locked.

1. Select DfE Accounts return group as shown in How to set up MAT DfE Accounts Return above.

2. Press Submit Return to initiate the submission process.

   

   Warning

   If the Financial year(s) were not closed and locked, then the following error message appears.

   

3. After clicking submit, the following dialog appears.

   

   Financial year: In rare circumstances, there might be more than 1 Financial year e.g. an obsolete financial year that has been locked. If there are more than 1 Financial year that meets criteria of being locked and ended recently, then select which one you want from the drop down list.

   Custom CoA mappings configured: This is the number of mappings that are configured.

   Apply automatic CoA mapping: Select No to disable rollup to parent account code.

   • All the DfE codes are 6 digits and end with zero.

     MATs can subdivide each account by changing the last digit (0) to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9.

     But for the purposes of submission, these need to be rolled up to the parent account i.e. the code ending in zero.

     So, by default, any accounts that are 6 digits and don't have a zero at the end will have the last digit of the account code changed to zero to meet these requirements.

     

4. Once complete, select Authorise to authorise with the DfE endpoint.

   

   Warning

   If no Academy data can be found, then the following error message appears.

   

5. When the submission is complete, the following message will show.

   

6. Selecting the DfE Login option will launch a page asking for consent.

   

   If consent is successfull, then you will get the following message.

   

   Complete login by entering your Username ...

   

   ... followed by your Password.

   

7. If your Chart of Accounts contain non DfE codes and these are not mapped (either via automatic or custom mappings), then you will get a message similar to the following.

   

   Note

   To resolve this issue, correct the invalid codes by adding additional CoA mappings and/or selecting Yes to the Apply automatic CoA mapping option in the Submit Accounts dialog.

8. A screen saying Submission complete.

   

   Note

   If the Submission is rejected by the DfE, then an error message will be displayed explaining the reason.

   e.g.

   

   

9. If Submission is complete without error messages, then you can now Close the dialog.

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Updated October 2024