The Trust's goal for 2008/09 was to produce draft annual accounts with minimum errors ahead of the new faster closure timetable.
As part of the preparations, the Trust's finance team carried out a structured analytical review of the 2008/09 accounts. Year-on-year changes to the balance sheet and supporting notes were clearly identified and explained, helping to reduce non-trivial errors. The team then used peer review of both accounts and working papers to test and consolidate their approach.
The Trust set a challenging closedown plan for the annual accounts, allowing sufficient flexibility to cover any uncertainty around its application for foundation trust status and imminent licensing date. The plan included clearly defined responsibilities for producing and monitoring progress on all elements of the accounts. Good teamwork meant that any issues were identified and addressed at an early stage.
The result was final accounts with no significant errors submitted ahead of the Department of Health deadline.