As part of the September 2026 release, BrightAccountsProduction has updated the School Chart of Accounts in line with the latest recommendations from the Financial Support Services Unit (FSSU) for the financial year ending 31st August 2027.
These changes ensure your school accounts remain accurate, compliant, and aligned with the latest FSSU reporting requirements and the FSSU Online accounts submission system. The latest official FSSU Chart of Accounts for the 2026/27 financial year is available on the FSSU website and should be used when submitting financial information to the Department of Education and the Charities Regulator.
The FSSU Chart of Accounts upgrade for 2026/27 will be applied automatically only to new schools created in BrightAccountsProduction. For existing schools, the new codes and updated descriptions will not update automatically. Instead, you should refer to the published list of changes and manually update descriptions or add the new codes where required. For BrightAP and BrightBooks‑linked datasets, the new codes can be added via the mapping or “select from master” options; where schools are not linked to BrightAP, the new codes will need to be created from scratch in the Chart of Accounts.
What’s New in This Update
1. New Nominal Codes Added
We’ve introduced new nominal codes to reflect the latest FSSU standards and to provide clearer analysis of education‑related expenditure.
New Codes
Nominal Code | Description | Type | Category | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4540 | JCSP Expense | Expenditure | Education Other Expenditure | |
4931 | After School Study/Club Non-Wages Expense | Expenditure | Education Other Expenditure |
These new codes allow schools to separately track JCSP costs and non‑wage elements of after‑school study/club activities, improving reporting and grant monitoring for education‑related programmes.
2. Nominal Accounts That Should No Longer Be Used
The following nominal account has been retired and should not be used for new postings in the 2026/27 financial year:
Nominal Code | Description | Type | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
3289 | Once-Off Cost of Living Grant | Income | Department of Education |
This grant was once‑off in nature and is no longer applicable for the 2026/27 Chart of Accounts. Any historic balances should be left as‑is for prior years’ reporting, but no new income should be coded to 3289 in 2026/27.
3. Updated Nominal Code Descriptions
Several existing codes have had their descriptions updated for clarity, consistency, and better alignment with FSSU reporting headings. The underlying codes and posting behaviour remain the same; only the descriptions have changed.
Nominal Code | Previous Description | New Description |
|---|---|---|
3170 | Other Subjects Grant | Curriculum/Subject Grants |
3530 | School Tours Income | School Tours/Trips Income |
4710 | School Tours Expense | School Tours/Trips Expense |
3573 | School Dance Income | Extracurricular Activities Income |
4920 | School Dance Expense | Extracurricular Activities Expense |
4490 | Other Subjects Expense | Curriculum/Subjects Expense |
4620 | Teacher Inservice and Training Expense | Inservice and Training Expense |
5610 | Refuse Expense | Refuse/Waste Disposal Expense |
3907 | Capital Donations Income | Capital Donations/Funding Income |
3992 | Capital Donations Land/Building Expense | Capital Donations/Funding Land/Building Expense |
These updates help schools more accurately reflect the nature of income and expenditure (e.g. distinguishing curriculum grants, school tours/trips, and extracurricular activities) and provide clearer separation of capital-related funding activity.
How to Review and Apply These Changes
Step 1 — Check Your Chart of Accounts
- Go to Settings → Chart of Accounts.
- Search for the new nominal codes (4540, 4931) to confirm they are available.
- Review the updated descriptions for the affected codes (e.g. 3170, 3530, 4710, etc.) to ensure your internal reports and labels reflect the new naming.
Step 2 — Update Reporting Templates
- If your reporting templates (management accounts, board packs, or FSSU‑aligned financial statement formats) include any of the affected nominal codes, make sure they now use the new descriptions.
- Confirm your mapping to FSSU headings is still correct after these description changes.
- For codes that have been retired (e.g. 3289), ensure they are excluded from 2026/27 budgets and transactional templates.
Step 3 — Review Grant and Expense Allocations
- For JCSP and after‑school activities, ensure related expenditure is allocated to the new codes:
- 4540 – JCSP Expense
- 4931 – After School Study/Club Non‑Wages Expense
- For curriculum/subject grants and expenses, use the updated descriptions (e.g. 3170 Curriculum/Subject Grants, 4490 Curriculum/Subjects Expense) to maintain consistency in reporting.
- For capital funding and donations, review postings to 3907 and 3992 so that capital income and land/building‑related expenditure are correctly identified under the revised descriptions.
Further Guidance
For full details of the official FSSU Chart of Accounts for 2026/27, including any additional codes or guidance not covered in this update, please refer to the FSSU website and the latest FSSU documentation