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Files marked with can only be downloaded from a Hertfordshire school.
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Advice for Governors
All these documents are only available to download from within a Hertfordshire School. If you wish to access these materials please contact your school. If for any reason this is not practical, then please contact Internal Audit and we will do our best to assist you. Email: internal.audit@ hertscc.gov.uk Tel: 01992 555324

Financial Management Standards in Schools

Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) New

DfE 18 July 2011: The Department has launched the new Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) which replaces the Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS). The assessment form and support notes are available to download from

• www.education.gov.uk - SFVS

Closure of FMSiS Website, Possible Loss of Data & Replacement Standard

January 2011

Update following the Secretary of State's announcement on 15 November 2010 to end the current FMSiS:

• Closure of FMSiS website
  The FMSiS website will be decommissioned and closed by 31 March 2011.
  • www.fmsis.info
• Schools' completed assessment forms
  LAs and schools interested in saving their schools' completed assessment forms should download these to their domain.  We will not have access to the website and its contents after 31 March 2011.
  
  We would be grateful if you can cascade this information to your schools and remind them that, if they wish to have access to any of their assessments on the website, they will need to download them before the end of March 2011.
• Archived FMSiS Resource Documents
  We expect the FMSiS resource documents to be archived online, so that schools and LAs can still access them if they wish to do so.  Therefore, you do not need to spend time downloading these documents from the current FMSiS website before it closes.  If this changes, we will let you know in good time for you to download any resource documents you might wish to keep.  The archived FMSiS resource documents will be uploaded to this section: 
  • www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement
• Simpler replacement version
  The Department's aim is to introduce the new replacement version as close as possible to the start of the 2011-2012 financial year.  The replacement will be a much simpler and less bureaucratic model concentrating on the key points which governing bodies and heads ought to assure themselves. 
• New Schools Financial Management & Efficiency web pages link
  • www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement.  This section provides information for schools and LAs on effective financial management, Value for Money and Efficiency, Consistent Financial Reporting and Benchmarking.  Information on the replacement for FMSiS will also be available here (when it is ready).  This section also contains a range of resource tools to support schools in improving their efficiency.  

    
    

Withdrawal of the Financial Management Standard in Schools

November 2010

We were notified on Tuesday 16th November 2010 that Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education has announced the decision to end the current Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS) with immediate effect and develop a simpler standard as a replacement.

Please refer to the announcement dated 15 November 2010 for full details:

• www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a0067711/government-announces-end-of-complex-school-financial-reporting-tool

What does this mean for Hertfordshire schools?

Schools will no longer be assessed against the FMSiS. Internal audits of schools will, with immediate effect, no longer feature a formal assessment of the school against the FMSiS Standards or the assessment criteria.

Schools are no longer expected to:

• complete or update a FMSiS self-assessment
• produce an annual Statement of Internal Control
• undertake any actions that were expected purely to comply with the FMSiS, e.g. completion of the financial management competency matrices by governors and staff.

However, the removal of the FMSiS clearly does not signal any reduction in the standard of financial management expected in schools. Schools need to have robust financial management processes in place to ensure that they manage their budgets effectively, ensure that their budgets and financial plans are sustainable into the medium term and achieve value for money in their use of resources.

Schools should not dismiss the objectives and expected practices within the FMSiS as no longer relevant. Most of the standards of financial management expected by the FMSiS pre-dated its introduction and will continue to be expected.

Therefore the materials on this page will not be withdrawn immediately as schools may continue to find them a useful resource.

You will see that the announcement states that:

“The Government recognises the importance of ensuring schools have the right arrangements in place to manage their budgets effectively and so the Department will now work with interested parties, including local authorities and schools, to develop a new, simpler way of doing this. It is hoped the replacement system will be introduced next year”.

We have no further information about a replacement system at this time.

If you have any queries regarding the withdrawal of the FMSiS and, in particular, the implications for your school of discontinuing practices you may have introduced to meet the FMSiS, please contact us, as we are happy to advise.

Financial Services to Schools is also offering advice and support to schools to ensure that on effective financial management arrangements are in place in your school. Please contact the FSS helpdesk on 01992 555713.

Tel. 01992 555324
Fax. 01992 555316
Email. internal.audit@hertscc.gov.uk

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The detailed information regarding the Financial Management Standard in Schools can be found on the DFE website at:

• www.fmsis.info

Internal Audit have provided further guidance on the evidence they hope to see in school:

Manual of Financial Procedures

The LA suggested model for the 'financial procedures manual' required by schools to comply with Standard 5.5 of the FMSiS has recently been revised.

• Manual of Financial Procedures (September 2010)
  

Statement of Internal Control

All schools are now required to meet the DCSF Financial Management Standard in Schools, other than nursery schools. One of the requirements of the DCSF FMSiS is that a school must, every 12 months, undertake the process outlined below to produce a SIC.

Internal Audit Guidance to Schools on the Completion of the SIC

• Word 2003, 63kb/7 pages, 16/03/2010, statement_internal_control.doc

FMSIS R15 - Statement of Internal Control Guide, Specimen & Pre-Certification Checklist for Governors

• Word 2003, 469kb/10 pages, 16/03/2010, FMSIS_statement_internal_control_guide_apr2009.doc

Internal Audit Supplementary Guidance - June 2007

• Acrobat pdf, 380kb/51 pages, 28/07/2007, dfes_fmsis_jun07.pdf

The Financial Services for Schools Team provides a range of training and consultancy support. Further details can be found at:

• Traded: Financial Management in Schools

Potential FMSiS Shortcomings

Internal Audit recently provided the Schools' Forum with a summary of the principal reasons why schools have not met the DCSF Financial Management Standard in Schools (where this applies). The Schools' Forum requested that this information be made available to all schools and their governors, to assist them to achieve the FMSiS.

• Word 2003, 56kb/5 pages, 22/04/2008, potential_fmsis_shortcomings_apr08.doc

Documents Needed at an Internal Audit/FMSiS Assessment

In response to requests from schools we have listed the schedule of documents that is sent to each school once its internal audit / FMSiS assessment has been arranged. If this schedule is read in conjunction with the on-line DCSF FMSiS self-assessment tool, that all schools are required to complete (www.fmsis.info), then it should be apparent how particular documents should provide evidence of meeting particular FMSiS assessment criteria. Other documents listed are also needed by an auditor to test and evaluate various financial systems and procedures.

• Word 2003, 132kb/4 pages, 27/11/2008, schedule_internalaudit_fmsis_assessment_documents.doc

Guide for Clerk to the Governors

A guide to the Financial Management Standard in Schools for the Clerk to the Governors

• Word 2003, 150kb/12 pages, 16/01/2008, fmsis_clerks.doc

Guide to Minute Taking

Internal Audit offers the attached guidance on taking minutes of governors' (and other) meetings in order to provide a record of the governors' general input to the school's financial management (in their role as 'critical friend') and to record the exercise of governors' scrutiny and approval of various key financial management decisions. This guidance has been endorsed by HCC's Governance Service.

• Word 2003, 36kb/3 pages, 27/11/2008, minutes_guidance.doc

FMSiS Evidence Guide

It was agreed with the Hertfordshire Schools' Forum that a FMSiS guide would be produced, that provides examples of the documents, procedures and other forms of evidence that are required to demonstrate that a school meets the Financial Management Standard in Schools.

The Guide has been produced with the help of 14 Hertfordshire secondary schools and all the examples used are real. We will be updating the guidance and we hope to offer examples from primary, middle or special schools in due course.

All secondary schools are subject to the FMSiS and all other schools, with the exception of nursery schools, will be by 31/3/2010 at the latest.

We would like to thank the following secondary schools whose help made it possible for us to produce the guide:

• Adeyfield
• Beaumont
• The Broxbourne
• The Chauncy
• Francis Bacon Maths & Computing College
• Hitchin Boys
• The John Warner
• Longdean, Presdales
• Queens’
• Richard Hale
• St Albans Girls’
• St Joan of Arc Catholic
• Stanborough

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