Within the Queen's Speech on 25 May 2010, the Queen stated that 'legislation will be introduced to enable more schools to achieve Academy status and give them greater freedoms over the curriculum'.
Locally there are a number of schools who are considering, or in the process of converting to Academies, through the provisions set out in the Academies Act 2010 which came into force on 29 July 2010. It was introduced by the Government so that Academies would have greater freedom to innovate and raise standards within their schools, which would include:
· Freedom from Local Authority Control
· Ability to set their own pay and conditions for staff
· Freedoms around the delivery of the curriculum
· Ability to change the lengths of terms and school days
Originally only primary, secondary and special schools that had an Ofsted inspection rating of 'Outstanding' or 'Good with Outstanding features' from their last visit were able to apply for Academy status; however from 7 April 2011, this was extended to any school that can make a compelling case for Academy status.
At the time of writing, all Academies approved by the Department for Education are automatically registered as charities and so have to comply with the detailed provisions of charity law. The legal form of the Academy will be that of a company limited by guarantee and as a result of these two factors will place certain statutory obligations upon the academy. The most notable statutory obligations are:
· Academies must prepare accounts which comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities' Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) and follow the guidance within the Young People's Learning Agency 'Academies Financial Handbook'.
· All Academies must have a year-end date of 31 August and they must be audited by a registered auditor.
· The full accounts should be submitted to the Department for Education and Skills by the 31 December (4 months after the end of the accounting year) each year. There is also the requirement to submit the accounts to the Company Registrar by 31 May (9 months after the end of the accounting year) and to the Charity Commission by no later than 30 June (10 months after the end of the accounting year).
It is also worth noting that legislation has been introduced in the Finance Bill 2011 which will allow Academies to recover VAT incurred on purchases made to support their non-business activities, which would have ordinarily been recovered by the local authority. This measure took effect from 1 April 2011.
Andrew Singleton, Audit Director with the locally based firm Inspire Audit Limited said: "Any schools looking to convert to an Academy need to be aware of the ongoing requirements associated with being an Academy. Although as part of the registration process, a local named contact within the Department for Education will work with the school throughout the conversion process, knowledge of all of the statutory requirements associated with being an Academy is of paramount importance." | 
