Whole of Government Accounts - Guidance for Practitioners

This page contains detailed guidance for those involved in the preparation of Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) returns.

For the Dear Consolidation Manager letter, background information and links to other sites please follow the "Whole of Government Accounts" link to the left of this page

2009-2010 - Guidance for Central Government departments and bodies

A provisional timetable and milestones for the 2009-10 WGA accounts production is available below. Please note that separate arrangements are still to be finalised with devolved administrations and for local government bodies.

The final version of the guidance and the Designation Order, listing bodies to be included in the 2009-10 account, will be issued by the end of March 2010.

WGA 2009-10 Provisional Timetable and Milestones (PDF 97KB)

2009-2010 - Guidance for Local Government bodies

Guidance for Local Government will be published on the websites of the departments listed below:

Highways Infrastructure Assets

Specific guidance for the transition to accounting for Highways Infrastructure Assets on a depreciated replacement cost (DRC) basis, and the information requested for 2009-10 is available on the above websites, with the exception of Northern Ireland, as they already account on a DRC basis. A copy is also provided below:

Note: these attachments refer to the CIPFA "Code of Practice on Transport Infrastructure Assets - Guidance to Support Asset Management, Financial Management and Reporting", which is still in draft. The final Code will be published in March 2010.

2008-2009 - Guidance for Central Government departments and bodies

The Guidance Notes below apply to central government departments, NDPBs or similar bodies, and funds.

Section 1 - small and minor bodies (PDF)
Section 2 - timetable for the sub-consolidation of accounts of central government departments and bodies (PDF)
Section 3 - consolidation packs, data submission and audit sign off (PDF)
Section 4 - agreement of transaction streams and balances by central government departments and bodies (PDF)
Section 5 - accounting treatment for CFERS and related consolidated fund transactions (PDF)
Section 6 - treatment of grant in aid transactions and other specific grants (PDF)
Section 7 - elimination of lottery income and expenditure (PDF)
Section 7 - annex a - an example (Excel)
Section 7 - annex b - distributor's template (Excel)
Section 7 - annex c - recipient's template (Excel)
Section 8 - bodies preparing charity accounts (PDF)
Appendix 1 - schedule of central government bodies (PDF)
Appendix 2 - forms 2008-2009 (Word)
Appendix 2 - forms 2008-2009 - Agreement of Balances forms (Excel)
Appendix 3 - list of bodies and CPIDs - to be issued shortly
Appendix 4 - SCOA codes - to be issued shortly
Appendix 5 - List of match relationships - to be issued shortly

Consolidation Pack

New Consolidation Pack (NC-Pack) for financial year 2008-2009 data

NC-Pack - updated for IFRS - to be issued shortly
NC-Pack guidance - to be issued shortly

The Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland Executive will issue consolidation packs for bodies within their groups to use.

Some of the above documents are available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.

Government Estimates, Accounts and Reporting Team,
1st Floor, HM Treasury,
1 Horse Guards Road,
London, SW1A 2HQ

email: wga.team@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk