Guidance

ESFA's approach to assessing the financial health of organisations

Updated 17 September 2024

Applies to England

Summary    

This guidance sets out the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s (ESFA’s) approach to assessing financial health of organisations. It does not replace any submission requirements or guidance for any register, procurement, or invitation to tender (ITT) rounds.

For a complete picture of financial health requirements, this guidance should be read alongside the Financial handbook for independent training providers.

The term ‘organisation’ is used within this guidance to refer to all entities and is used as a generic term. Organisations are defined for the purpose of this guidance as:

• independent training providers (ITPs)
• special post-16 institutions (SPIs)
• non-maintained special schools (NMSS)
• organisations applying to a register, procurement, or ITT rounds

This guidance is not to be used for:

• general further education (FE) colleges
• sixth form colleges
• academies or academy trusts

If you are seeking financial guidance for any of these areas, please follow the links below:

• academies financial returns
• college financial planning handbook
• college accounts directions

The ESFA uses financial health as a measure of an organisation’s financial status, in terms of its:

• financial performance
• ability to meet ongoing financial commitments

It helps us to understand the degree of risk in contracting with organisations, either directly or indirectly. We assess financial health, primarily through the review of organisations’ annual accounts, assigning a financial health grade. The financial health grade is used to establish the maximum recommended value of contracts appropriate to the financial resources of organisations that have a direct contract.

This guidance explains the ESFA’s approach to financial health assessments and the information that must be submitted to the ESFA to conduct them. If an organisation is applying to a register, procurement, or ITT round, these may specify their own financial requirements or limitations above and beyond this guidance. It is the responsibility of an organisation to submit correct financial information in applications and to seek clarity on any specific requirements it is unsure of before application.

Register, procurement, and ITT rounds may refer and link to this guidance. These rounds may also combine this guidance with specific application requirements or guidance relating to financial submissions.

What has changed in this edition

The main substantive changes compared with the November 2022 edition are:

• reference to the Financial Handbook for independent training providers (paragraphs. 1.9, 1.10, 1.13, 2.13(f))
• the addition of a checklist detailing financial information required to be submitted to enable the ESFA to perform a financial health assessment (paragraphs 1.1 to 1.5)
• the inclusion of a submission route of financial statements through the customer help portal (paragraph 1.6)
• providing further clarity on the impact of financial statements not being submitted to us (paragraph 1.11)
• additional explanations and expansion of the amounts we include within borrowings and when these will be included (paragraphs 1.13, 1.14, 2.6 to 2.7 and Annex B)
• clarification on non-UK based parent company financial statements not being required (paragraph 1.27)
• clarification on when first considering an exemption under the large organisation section, we will require submission of full financial statements (paragraph 1.30)
• the introduction of a clause which allows the ESFA to remove or adjust the turnover threshold under exemption for large organisations (paragraph 1.36)
• additional moderation criteria added enabling ESFA to moderate an organisation’s financial health grade to ‘inadequate’, if their full financial statements are not submitted to ESFA (paragraph 2.13(f))
• the inclusion of engagement with organisation, following an inadequate financial health grade assessment (paragraph 2.15) - this replaces ‘organisations subject to in-year financial monitoring’
• the inclusion of financial health grade descriptors and the financial health score profile (Annex A)
• a new annex explaining the financial figures used for the profitability, solvency, and gearing ratios calculations, for the financial health (Annex D)

Part 1: Submission requirements

Checklist

1.1: This section is designed to assist you in supplying the full and correct information required by the ESFA to complete the financial health assessment. If you fail to supply all the correct information it could adversely impact your financial health score and grading. Further details on what should be contained within your financial information is supplied later within this guidance.

1.2: You must submit:

• full, signed final financial statements for your organisation as soon as they are available - abbreviated accounts are not acceptable - see paragraphs 1.13 to 1.16 for further details
• a breakdown of all creditors to enable ESFA to identify all borrowings - this includes a further breakdown of other creditors (if shown within your financial statements) - see paragraphs 1.13, 1.14, 2.6 to 2.8 and Annex B for further details
• full, signed final financial statements for your ultimate UK parent company (where applicable) - abbreviated accounts are not acceptable - see paragraphs 1.23 to 1.27 for further details

1.3: If you submit amended financial statements to Companies House after your original statements have been shared with us, you must also submit the amended financial statements to us promptly.

1.4: Do the financial statements you are submitting match those recorded on Companies House or the Charity Commission? Where you have only submitted abbreviated accounts to Companies House, the ESFA still require full accounts as detailed in this guidance. The ESFA will verify content contained within the 2 documents for consistency. If there are discrepancies this may adversely affect the grade awarded.

1.5: No alternative to the required information will be accepted.

Submission of financial statements

1.6: The submission route for financial statements using the Customer help portal applies only to ITPs with a direct contract with us. Financial statements should be submitted through Customer help portal, using the ‘Contact a Case Manager’ option. This will require a DfE Sign-in account to login. Those organisations applying to any register, procurement and ITT round must follow the guidance and submission routes detailed within the application process.

1.7: The ESFA will work with the Department for Education’s (DfE) Independent Market Oversight Division (IMOD) and Place Based Teams in receiving the financial statements, and any other relevant financial information for organisations with existing contracts, as required by the ESFA or DfE.

1.8: Financial health for organisations is graded based on financial ratios taken from the latest available, and where applicable, published financial statements. Every organisation must submit this information to the ESFA, in accordance with its contract, or its application to a register, procurement, or ITT round. For organisations that hold a contract with the ESFA or DfE, the latest financial statements must be sent to the ESFA as soon as they become available.

1.9: Organisations with a current funding agreement or contract for services must submit financial statements each year. They must do this as soon as the statements are finalised and signed and before they are overdue at Companies House or the Charity Commission. In addition, organisations must refer to Part 4 of the Financial handbook for independent training providers for the time to submit their financial statements.

1.10: For organisation’s accounting periods commencing on or after 1 August 2024, the ESFA will require most ITPs to submit financial statements earlier than they currently do. ITPs should consult the Financial handbook for independent training providers, effective from 1 August 2024, to see how this will apply to them.

1.11: Failure to submit financial statements on a timely basis, or when requested will result in the award of a financial health grade of ‘Inadequate’ until financial statements are submitted and assessed.

1.12: The ESFA or DfE may not chase up financial statements once they become overdue before awarding an inadequate grade. Nevertheless, if the ESFA identifies that financial statements have been filed at Companies House or the Charity Commission, and have not been submitted to us, we reserve the right to award an inadequate grade.

1.13: Financial statements submitted must be full accounts (not abbreviated, abridged, filleted or micro entity), and audited, where appropriate, and required by Company law, or as required within the Financial handbook for independent training providers. We will not accept extracts of financial statements or selected pages. If your organisation is a company and only abbreviated accounts are required for Companies House filing, you must still submit your full statutory accounts (in the format required by the Companies Act 2006 and relevant reporting requirements) to the ESFA, which must include, as a minimum, the following elements:

• an end of period profit and loss account, or equivalent
• an end of period balance sheet
• detailed commentary and breakdown, including all notes to the accounts
• a breakdown of amounts contained within creditors or other creditors (other creditors is determined here as any item recorded within either current or long-term liabilities that is not identifiable in its own right)

1.14: ESFA assessment purposes, ‘other creditors’ is not an acceptable account classification, and it must be further explained. If your organisation does not submit a breakdown of creditors or other creditors, and the ESFA is unable to identify borrowings from your financial statements, then it will record all amounts within your creditors or other creditors as borrowings. If you submit a breakdown of creditors and this contains a line for other creditors, then we will include all other creditors as borrowings unless you submit a full breakdown of this. We will also treat all ‘amounts owed to group undertakings’ as borrowings unless the financial statements detail this as trading activity or other non-borrowing activity. Failure to supply a full breakdown may impact your grade and could result in being awarded an inadequate financial health grade.

1:15: If you submit amended financial statements for a financial year to Companies House or the Charity Commission, these must be submitted to the ESFA as soon as they become available.

1.16: If your organisation, due to its legal form, is not required to produce statutory financial statements, you must submit accounts in a format like that prescribed for companies’ annual accounts. These must include the same minimum elements as prescribed in paragraph 1.13 to 1.15.

1.17: We reserve the right to use or rely upon external sources of information to inform our decision on your finances, such as, Companies House, the Charity Commission, credit reference agencies, along with information from sites that monitor these. This may not apply during register, procurement, and ITT rounds, where the specific requirements of those rounds override this guidance.

New organisations: submission of financial information

1.18: If your organisation is unable to supply statutory financial statements because it has not traded for a sufficient period, you must supply management accounts to date, showing actual activity, along with forecast figures for a remaining period. The combined information must cover a period no less than one year, with the management accounts comprising at least 3 months of actual trading activity. Actively trading is determined here as including income and expenditure arising as a result of trade and does not include the incurrence of set up or start-up costs. As a minimum, these must consist of:

• a profit and loss account covering a minimum 12-month period, from the commencement of trading
• an end of period forecast balance sheet
• a minimum 12-month rolling cash flow statement covering the same period as the profit and loss account and the balance sheet
• detailed narrative supporting assumptions made for both management accounts and forecast information

1.19: It is not permitted for management accounts to be submitted instead of full financial statements, where financial statements have been produced. If management accounts are submitted alongside financial statements, then the management accounts will not be reviewed unless they have been specifically requested by the ESFA or DfE.

1.20: Any financial health grade awarded based on the submission of management accounts and financial forecasts will only remain valid until the first set of financial statements are finalised and signed. If we do not receive full financial statements as soon as they become available, this may result in the financial health grade being moderated to inadequate.

1.21: The ESFA will assess management accounts and financial forecasts on an individual basis. We will take into consideration their achievability, potential for delivery against the information submitted and any autoscore recorded. We will only grade management accounts and financial forecasts a maximum grade of ‘Satisfactory’.

1.22: If any of the required information is missing, we will grade financial health as ‘Inadequate’, due to insufficient information available for assessment.

Parent organisations

1.23: A parent organisation’s financial statements cannot be used as a replacement for the prime organisation’s financial statements and are not subject to the full assessment process. The financial health of any parent organisation, regardless of where it is in the world, will not serve to improve the grade of a prime organisation or applicant to a register or procurement round. The ultimate UK parent organisation’s financial statements are requested to assess whether the parent or group may adversely impact the financial stability of the prime organisation DfE contracts with.

1.24: If your organisation is part of a wider group of organisations or companies, classed as a subsidiary, or has another organisation as a significantly controlling party in your organisation, you must submit full financial statements for the ultimate UK parent organisation or company. You must also submit those of the contracting or applying organisation. If you are in any doubt regarding whether your organisation is a parent organisation or company or a subsidiary organisation you should refer to either the Companies Act 2006 which defines, at sections 1159, 1162 and relevant schedules, what constitutes a holding company, a parent company, and a subsidiary organisation, or the Charities SORP (FRS 102), sections 24 and 26.

1.25: If an organisation fails to submit its ultimate UK parent organisation or company financial statements, this may result in the award of an ‘Inadequate’ grade.

1.26: If your ultimate UK parent organisation / company does not produce consolidated financial statements, you are required to also supply the financial statements for all non-dormant subsidiaries.

1.27: If your ultimate parent organisation or company is registered outside of the UK, you must supply the full financial statements for your ultimate UK parent organisation or company where you have one. We do not require financial statements of non-UK based parent organisation.

Exemptions

1.28: The following organisations are exempt from this financial health assessment process, and do not need to submit annual financial statements to the ESFA:

• central government departments, executive agencies, or non-departmental public bodies
• local authorities, including local education authority (LEA) schools
• free schools
• NHS trusts, fire authorities and police authorities, including Police and Crime Commissioners
• Higher Educational Institutions financially monitored by the Office for Students
• rail franchise operators, licensed and acting on behalf of the Department for Transport

1.29: While there are exemptions and exclusion from this guidance, there may still be a requirement for any organisation to submit accounts for register, procurement, or ITT application purposes.

Exemptions: large organisations

1.30:The ESFA may also consider established public limited companies, other registered companies, charities, and voluntary organisations to be exempt from this financial health assessment process, if they have a consistent annual turnover more than £75 million, where total current DfE funding to the organisation constitutes, or is expected to constitute, less than 5% of the organisation’s annual turnover. We will undertake a financial health assessment when first considering whether an exemption applies.

1.31: Financial statements for organisations under this category will be reviewed annually to ensure:

• the organisation remains financially stable
• that total DfE funding is incidental to their business (that it is no more than, or expected to be no more than, 5% of annual turnover)

1.32: As part of this annual review, we will access your publicly available financial statements and in addition may also request financial information from you. We will also confirm organisational status and that no change has occurred which could affect the organisations status or stability.

1.33: The ESFA may use external sources of information to inform our decision on your finances. If we become aware of any financial risk to an organisation, we reserve the right to review the exemption status at our discretion.

1.34: An organisation may be removed from this category and be subject to the full assessment process if either:

• total DfE funding becomes material, that is, exceeds 5% of annual turnover
• annual turnover reduces to below £75 million
• we become aware of concerns over the financial health of the organisation

1.35: Organisations which are considered to fall under this category must still submit their financial statements as part of a register, procurement, or ITT round for validation or assessment purposes or when requested by the ESFA.

1.36: We reserve the right to remove the exemption category for large organisations or adjust the turnover threshold at any time.

Part 2: Assessing financial health

Financial health scoring and grading

2.1: Financial health for organisations is assessed and graded, based on the following 3 financial elements.

Profitability (sustainability)

2.2: We assess profitability based on profit after tax (for continuing and discontinued operations) as a percentage of turnover, defined as profit after tax ÷ turnover x 100.

2.3: For assessment purposes, depreciation and amortisation charge for year are added back to profit after tax and dividends are subtracted.

Solvency (current ratio)

2.4: We assess solvency using the current ratio, this being the ratio between current assets and current liabilities.

Gearing (debt ratio)

2.5: We assess gearing based on debt as a percentage of reserves and debt.

2.6: Debt is defined as all long-term and short-term borrowings, which include:

• bank loans and overdrafts
• finance leases and hire purchase contracts
• credit cards
• directors’ loans to the company
• ‘inter-company’ and group loans to the organisation
• personal loans to the organisation
• directors’ current accounts
• amounts owed to the directors

2.7: We will also include as debt, amounts owed to group undertakings, unless it is stated as trading activity or other non-debt related activity.

2.8: We may include creditors or other creditors within the debt figure if we are unable to identify the amount of borrowings contained within this figure. A breakdown of creditors or other creditors must be supplied alongside the submission of your financial statements.

2.9: Reserves are defined for this purpose as shareholders’ funds less intangible assets. If this is a negative figure, an automatic score of 0 is given.

Financial health grade and scoring system

2.10: Each of the financial health grade elements is given a score out of 100, using the scoring system set out in Annex C.

2.11: The ESFA makes an initial assessment of the financial health grade by comparing the aggregated points score with the assessment criteria set out below. This may then be subject to moderation.

Grade	Points
Outstanding	240 to 300 points
Good	180 to 230 points
Satisfactory	120 to 170 pints
Inadequate	<= 110 points

2.12: Definitions of financial health grades and their financial indicators are included at Annex A.

Moderation

2.13: The ESFA reserves the right to moderate any initial grade either up or down. We consider each moderation on a case-by-case basis. We will only consider one moderation criteria for each assessment and will not combine multiple moderation criteria. Moderation criteria may include, but are not limited to, the following.

(a): We will not grade higher than ‘satisfactory’ if an organisation scores 0 points for any one of the three ratios.

(b): We may moderate to ‘inadequate’, where auditors have given the financial statements a qualified or adverse opinion or provided an ‘emphasis of matter’ or ‘material uncertainty’ statement.

(c): We will grade financial health as ‘inadequate’, if Companies House shows your organisation has entered liquidation, insolvency, a Company Voluntary Arrangement, or is shown as dormant.

(d): We will grade financial health as ‘inadequate’ if financial statements are overdue for filing at Companies House or the Charity Commission.

(e): We may grade financial health as ‘inadequate’ if organisations do not submit the most recently filed full financial statements to us when they are finalised and signed, or within 3 weeks of a request being made for these unless the request stipulates a set timescale.

(f): We may grade financial health as ‘inadequate’, if organisations do not submit their full financial statements, for accounting periods commencing on or after 1 August 2024, to ESFA in line with the relevant filing deadline set out Part 4 of the Financial handbook for independent training providers.

(g): We may grade financial health as ‘inadequate’, if organisations do not submit additional financial information to us when requested.

(h): We will grade financial health as inadequate where:

• we are unable to open the information submitted
• the information submitted does not appear complete, contains errors, does not match the information presented on Companies House or the Charity Commission websites
• where in our view, doesn’t evidence a minimum of 3 months active trading

(i): If there is a group or parent organisation or company whose financial position could significantly adversely impact the financial health of the organisation, we may moderate the grade downwards.

(j): Where information other than the latest available financial statements, supported by factual evidence, indicates that the financial health is significantly different from the autoscore. ‘Significantly’ is defined as sufficiently different to generate an autoscore at least one grade lower. Examples might include (but would not be limited to):

• a court ruling which has financial consequences
• the loss of a material contract or area of provision
• a contingent liability crystallising
• recall of debt by the bank or investor
• a significant recovery of funds following a funding audit or investigation
• loss of key personnel
• cessation of trading

(k): Where an organisation’s financial health is calculated as ‘inadequate’, solely because of a deficit on the pension scheme which reduces the level of reserves, the grade may be moderated to ‘satisfactory’.

(l): If long-term borrowings are high but are predominantly and demonstrably secured on long-term fixed assets, for example a mortgage on property, then, if this significantly affects the financial health (by at least one grade) and finances suggest that sufficient cash is being generated to cover the associated repayments, we may moderate a calculated grade of ‘inadequate’ to ‘satisfactory’. For this moderation criteria to be considered, the financial statements submitted must clearly show this to be the case.

(m): Where an organisation’s financial health, in an isolated year, is calculated as ‘inadequate’, solely due to making a distribution of several years’ accumulated profits through a dividend, resulting in a zero score for profitability. In such circumstances, we may moderate the financial health score to ‘satisfactory’, if we consider that the underlying business is profitable and removal of dividend payments above the current year’s profits would improve the grade.

(n): We may moderate organisations graded ‘inadequate’ to ‘satisfactory’ upon receipt of a fully completed guarantee, where the use of a guarantee is deemed suitable and is requested by the ESFA.

(o): We will not grade higher than ‘satisfactory’ if an organisation’s score is based on management accounts.

(p): We may consider moderation where an organisation can clearly demonstrate that there has been an exceptional loss of income or has incurred exceptional expenditure, due to a rare or unusual events, for example COVID-19, which results in an ‘inadequate’ autoscore. This moderation will only be considered when financial statements are supported with evidence demonstrating that there will be a return to an improved financial position in the following financial year.

(q): Where an organisation has received government loans, for example. Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans during the COVID-19 pandemic, these will be classed as borrowings. We may moderate organisations graded ‘inadequate’ to ‘satisfactory’, where this government loan is the only reason for the inadequate grade and the business still appears viable. The value and details of the loan must be clearly identifiable within the financial statements.

(r): We may consider moderation to a lower grade where profits from sale or disposal of assets, exceptional items, and profits from discontinued operations increase the grade of an assessment, but where the underlying business is loss making, and would, without these one-off profits result in a lower grade.

(s): We may consider moderation where an organisation that is in a group with a higher education institution as the parent body, by taking into consideration the subsidiary or parent relationship. Special moderation procedures will apply, and considerations will include (but are not limited to):

• the financial health of the parent organisation
• any financial guarantees or letters of comfort provided by the parent organisation
• the pattern of any financial support provided and the nature of the relationship or transactions between the bodies

2.14: ESFA will moderate the autoscore grade by assessing both the underlying financial health of the organisation and its medium to long term sustainability. ESFA may require the organisation to provide bespoke information.

Engagement following inadequate financial health grade

2.15: The Post-16 intervention and accountability policy outlines how the ESFA maintains oversight of independent training providers and confirms that where a training provider has inadequate financial health, we will consider each case on its merits, and may conduct a review, but reserve the right to take action in accordance with the training provider’s contracts or agreements.

Part 3: Recommended funding limits

3.1: A key outcome of the financial health assessment process is using the financial health grade to set a maximum Recommended Funding Limit (RFL). The RFL is a measure of an organisation’s financial capacity to deliver. The funding limit will also vary depending upon whether the organisation is new or has an existing contract with the ESFA or DfE. There are other constraints that may impact an organisation’s capacity to deliver, such as its infrastructure.

3.2: The concept of a RFL is not applicable to:

• FE colleges
• sixth form colleges
• academies and academy trusts
• organisations considered to be exempt from financial health assessments

3.3: We calculate the RFL as a percentage of the organisation’s turnover from their latest annual financial statements. The relevant percentage is determined as follows.

Grade	Organisations that hold an existing ESFA or DfE contract	Organisations that do not hold an existing ESFA or DfE contract but have financial history	Organisations that do not hold an existing ESFA or DfE contract and are assessed based on management accounts and forecast
Outstanding	150%	100%	N/A
Good	125%	75%	N/A
Satisfactory	115%	50%	See paragraph 3.4 to 3.5
Inadequate	0%	0%	No contract

3.4: We consider organisations that do not hold a contract with us at the time of assessment a greater risk. We will calculate the RFL on a reduced percentage. The maximum RFL awarded is £2 million.

3.5: We will assess management accounts and forecasts individually on their own merits. We will allocate a financial health category of ‘satisfactory’ to management accounts and forecasts, we consider viable. We will set the RFL at the turnover in the accounts and forecasts to a maximum of £1 million.

3.6: If management accounts are specifically requested and reviewed for organisations that hold a current contract with us, these will not result in an amendment of their grade or RFL.

3.7: Before contracting, the financial health score and RFL may be used to inform contract negotiation.

Annex A: Financial health descriptors

This annex provides the definition of each financial health grade and their financial indicators.

Score	Grade	Definition	Indicators
240 to 300	Outstanding	An organisation that appears to have robust finances to fulfil its contractual obligations and to respond successfully to opportunities or adverse circumstances.	Normally an organisation with outstanding or good indicators for profitability, solvency and gearing.
180 to 230	Good	An organisation that appears to have sufficiently robust finances to fulfil its contractual obligations, and to respond successfully to most opportunities or adverse circumstances.	Normally an organisation with at least 2 good indicators for profitability, solvency and gearing.
120 to 170	Satisfactory	An organisation that appears to have sufficient resources to fulfil its contractual obligations, but also appears likely to have limited capacity to respond successfully to opportunities or adverse circumstances.	Normally an organisation with at least 2 satisfactory indicators for profitability, solvency and gearing.
</= 110	Inadequate	An organisation that is in financial difficulty and very likely to be dependent on the goodwill or financial support of others. There is a significant risk of organisations in this group not being able to fulfil contractual obligations because of weak financial health.	Normally an organisation with at least 2 inadequate indicators for profitability, solvency and gearing.

Annex B: Definition of financial elements

This annex sets out the definitions of the financial elements used to determine the financial health grade.

Element	Definition
Profitability	Profit after tax as a percentage of turnover, defined as: Profit after tax ÷ turnover x 100 For this purpose, depreciation and amortisation are added back to profit after tax and dividends are subtracted.
Solvency	Current ratio defined as: Current assets ÷ current liabilities
Gearing	Total debt as a percentage of reserves and debt. Reserves are defined for this purpose as shareholders’ funds less intangible assets. If this is a negative figure, an automatic score of 0 is given. Debt is defined as all long-term and short-term borrowings, which include, bank overdrafts, finance leases and hire purchase contracts, credit cards, directors’ loans to the company, ‘inter-company’ and group loans to the organisation, personal loans to the organisation, directors’ current accounts and amounts owed to the directors. We may include other creditors within the debt figure if we are unable to identify the scope of borrowings contained within this figure. A breakdown of other creditors must be supplied alongside the submission of your financial statements. We will also include as debt amounts owed to group undertakings unless it is stated as trading activity or other non-debt related activity.

Annex C: Financial health scoring

Score	Profitability	Solvency	Gearing
0	< 0	< 0.5	>= 90 or negative
10	>= 0	>= 0.5	< 90
20	>= 1	>= 0.6	< 80
30	>= 2	>= 0.7	< 70
40	>= 3	>= 0.8	< 60
50	>= 4	>= 1.0	< 50
60	>= 5	>= 1.2	< 40
70	>= 6	>= 1.4	< 30
80	>= 7	>= 1.6	< 20
90	>= 8	>= 1.8	< 10
100	>= 9	>= 2.0	= 0

Annex D: Financial figures used within the profitability, solvency, and gearing ratios calculations

The names below may differ on your financial statements dependent upon the type of organisation. The names used are those most widely recognised. These are the amounts or charges shown for the year or period that your financial statements cover.

Name	Common location of figure used
Turnover	Located near the top of the profit and loss account
Depreciation and amortisation	Commonly obtained from the notes to the accounts. The figures used are the charge for the year.
Profit or loss accounts after tax	Obtained from near the bottom of the profit and loss account. If a loss this is recorded as a negative figure.
Dividends	Located in statement of changes in equity, or notes to the accounts. A calculation from retained profits can also identify this value if not specifically listed.
Current assets	Obtained from the balance sheet.
Current liabilities	Obtained from the balance sheet.
Intangible assets	Located near the top of the balance sheet. Goodwill is also classed as an intangible asset.
Shareholders’ funds	Taken from the balance sheet. If this is a net liability, then this is recorded as a negative figure.
Borrowings	Culmination of all types of borrowings taken from both short-term and long-term creditors, refer to submission of financial statements and the gearing ratio in assessing financial health for guidance on what amounts are included.