DfE financial management: college accounts
Source: gov.uk (2025-06-04)

Information allowing colleges established or designated under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 to compare their financial data with national totals and other organisations.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025. All activity has moved to the Department for Education (DfE). You should continue to follow this guidance.

Who should use this information

The intended audience for this page is:
- sixth-form and further education (FE) college corporations
- institutions designated under Section 28 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 as being in the further education sector
For the purposes of this page, these are collectively referred to as ‘colleges’.

Specialist FE colleges funded by DfE as special post-16 institutions (sometimes described as FE colleges) are not in scope, unless they are a subsidiary of one of the previously mentioned organisations.

How the datasets are created

We have compiled these datasets from the DfE’s database of finance records.

The datasets replicate colleges’ audited financial statements as closely as possible. We do not validate or cleanse the datasets and they have not been independently externally audited. We are not responsible for any decisions or judgements made using any dataset.

Read the college accounts direction (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/college-accounts-direction) for more information on DfE’s financial reporting requirements for colleges.

Contact us through the customer help portal (https://customerhelpportal.education.gov.uk/) if you have any queries about the datasets or how to use them.

Academic year 2023 to 2024 datasets

The dataset includes fully completed accounts which were submitted to, and reviewed by, DfE up to 16 May 2025. It contains 210 of 221 expected returns.

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68401502e550203c8209ccd3/College_accounts_academic_year_2023_2024_.csv)

College accounts academic year 2023 to 2024 data (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68401502e550203c8209ccd3/College_accounts_academic_year_2023_2024_.csv)

CSV, 407 KB

View online (/csv-preview/68401502e550203c8209ccd3/College_accounts_academic_year_2023_2024_.csv)

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/684030cf4d433cd95b9fe7d1/College_accounts_2023_2024_data_field_definitions.xlsx)

College accounts academic year 2023 to 2024 data field definitions (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/684030cf4d433cd95b9fe7d1/College_accounts_2023_2024_data_field_definitions.xlsx)

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 785 KB

The datasets may include blank cells. This is due to the fact that there is no data available, or that the data does not apply.

Academic year 2022 to 2023 datasets

The dataset includes fully completed accounts which were submitted to, and reviewed by, ESFA up to 31 January 2025. It contains 221 of 223 expected returns.

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc6483d157fd4b79addd62/College_accounts_academic_year_2022_to_2023_data_publication.csv)

College accounts academic year 2022 to 2023 data (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc6483d157fd4b79addd62/College_accounts_academic_year_2022_to_2023_data_publication.csv)

CSV, 453 KB

View online (/csv-preview/67bc6483d157fd4b79addd62/College_accounts_academic_year_2022_to_2023_data_publication.csv)

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/664db4c4f34f9b5a56adcc00/College_accounts_2022_to_2023_MetaData_publication.xlsx)

College accounts academic year 2022 to 2023 data field definitions (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/664db4c4f34f9b5a56adcc00/College_accounts_2022_to_2023_MetaData_publication.xlsx)

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 829 KB

Academic year 2021 to 2022 datasets

The dataset includes fully completed accounts which were submitted to, and reviewed by, ESFA up to 30 April 2023. It contains 214 of 228 expected returns.

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64a6c589c531eb000c64ffd0/College_accounts_academic_year_2021_to_2022_data_publication_v2_July23.csv)

College accounts academic year 2021 to 2022 data (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64a6c589c531eb000c64ffd0/College_accounts_academic_year_2021_to_2022_data_publication_v2_July23.csv)

CSV, 418 KB

View online (/csv-preview/64a6c589c531eb000c64ffd0/College_accounts_academic_year_2021_to_2022_data_publication_v2_July23.csv)

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/646dccfaab40bf001019693f/College_accounts_2021_2022_MetaData_publication.xlsx)

College accounts academic year 2021 to 2022 data field definitions (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/646dccfaab40bf001019693f/College_accounts_2021_2022_MetaData_publication.xlsx)

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 829 KB

Academic year 2020 to 2021 datasets

The dataset includes fully completed accounts which were submitted to, and reviewed by, ESFA up to 10 May 2022. It contains 227 of 231 expected returns.

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6283d4c6e90e071f653a48ac/College_accounts_academic_year_2020_to_2021_data_publication_v1.csv)

College accounts academic year 2020 to 2021 data (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6283d4c6e90e071f653a48ac/College_accounts_academic_year_2020_to_2021_data_publication_v1.csv)

CSV, 422 KB

View online (/csv-preview/6283d4c6e90e071f653a48ac/College_accounts_academic_year_2020_to_2021_data_publication_v1.csv)

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6283d4bde90e071f62029be3/College_accounts_2020_2021_MetaData_publication.xlsx)

College accounts academic year 2020 to 2021 data field definitions (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6283d4bde90e071f62029be3/College_accounts_2020_2021_MetaData_publication.xlsx)

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 857 KB

Academic year 2019 to 2020 datasets

The dataset includes fully completed accounts which were submitted to, and reviewed by, ESFA up to 24 May 2021. It contains 232 of 239 expected returns.

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60d99642d3bf7f7c39f3a397/College_accounts_academic_year_2019_to_2020_data_publication_v1.1.csv)

College accounts academic year 2019 to 2020 data (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60d99642d3bf7f7c39f3a397/College_accounts_academic_year_2019_to_2020_data_publication_v1.1.csv)

CSV, 387 KB

View online (/csv-preview/60d99642d3bf7f7c39f3a397/College_accounts_academic_year_2019_to_2020_data_publication_v1.1.csv)

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60d9964e8fa8f50ab3b8b5aa/College_accounts_2019_2020_MetaData_publication_v1.1.xlsx)

College accounts academic year 2019 to 2020 data field definitions (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60d9964e8fa8f50ab3b8b5aa/College_accounts_2019_2020_MetaData_publication_v1.1.xlsx)

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 824 KB