The aim of the publication is to highlight what it sees as best practice for account preparers to access when planning their annual reporting. As part of the Government Financial Reporting Review in 2019, HM Treasury committed to continue to support ongoing improvements in financial reporting and committed to producing an annual best practice report. This latest report follows the publication of best practice examples taken from the 2017-2018 central government ARAs, published at the time of the Government Financial Reporting Review, and those contained within 2018-2019 ARAs published as part of a review in 2020.

The report is divided into three sections that broadly follow the structure of a departmental ARA required by the Financial Reporting Manual (FReM):

• Performance reporting;
• Accountability; and
• Financial statements.

Further information and links to the examples are available on the HM Treasury website.