The Treasury and the Department for Communities and Local Government have released details of new tools and new accounting systems for use in preparing the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) 2012 to 2013.
This is detailed guidance for central government bodies and public corporations in England and Wales who are required to complete WGA returns. The local government deadline for supplying the information has been extended to 7 August 2013, following the need for some minor fixes as a result of the migration of the WGA website to its new www.gov.uk location. The deadline for central government WGA bodies is 31 July.
The guidance include a Data Collection Tool (DCT) for central government; a spreadsheet mapping account codes from the Combined On-line Information System (COINS) public spending database to the Online System for Central Accounting and Reporting (OSCAR) consolidation software used by the Treasury to produce the WGA; a list of counter-party identifiers (CPID); templates for notifying and agreeing balances with other WGA bodies; and a standard chart of account codes for balances.
The guidance also contains information on the WGA process, the timetable, all the deliverables that DCT preparers need to provide and general guidance on the WGA treatment of CPID transactions and balances and other specific issues such as grants.
The DCT is an Excel Workbook based tool which all central government bodies and public corporations that are required to provide WGA data to the Treasury must use.
The data entry options include a few changes from the previous C-pack. For example, the CPID input sheet now contains an additional column that will enable 'clear line of sight' (CLOS) departments to show who the owner of the CPID data is i.e. the core department itself or one of its arms-length bodies.
Another change is the layout and the fact that the pack now pulls through all internal balances rather than only those balances that contain resource data.
The cashflow statement is no longer required and the accounting test sheet has been replaced by one tab that shows all validations. More granular information is sought for expenditure account codes. Purchases of goods and services have been expanded to include additional cost codes.
Payables and Receivables now include current and non-current on the same tab. Prepayments and accruals have been separated out, and monies due to the consolidated fund has been simplified and reduced to one cell. There is also a new provision code for EU Disallowances.
