National Treasury Releases 2025/26 Updated mSCOA Specimen AFS

Posted 10 July 2026 Written by Acts Online
Category Municipal Finance

Brought to you by SA Accounting Academy: In terms of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, No. 56 of 2003 (MFMA), National Treasury has issued the updated Municipal Standard Chart of Accounts (mSCOA) Specimen Annual Financial Statements (AFS) for the 2025/26 financial year.

The updated specimen is designed to assist municipalities and municipal entities in preparing their annual financial statements in compliance with the Standards of Generally Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP) and the mSCOA classification framework. This update incorporates recent reporting refinements and alignment requirements dictated by National Treasury’s ongoing mSCOA implementation reviews.

Key Compliance Focus Areas

The 2025/26 updated specimen focuses on several critical reporting areas to ensure consistency and automated validation:

  • Data String Alignment: Closer integration between the mSCOA data strings submitted to the GoMuni upload portal and the final presented Annual Financial Statements.
  • GRAP Standards: Incorporation of updated disclosure requirements and accounting standards approved by the Accounting Standards Board (ASB).
  • Standardised Formatting: Uniform structures for reporting municipal revenue, expenditure, and capital assets to facilitate seamless regulatory oversight.

Municipalities and advisors can access the updated templates and guidance notes on the National Treasury website.

What this means for you, your business, or your clients

  • For yourself: No direct individual obligations; professional development and advisory roles require familiarity with the updated templates to ensure accurate municipal reporting.
  • For your business: Professional accounting and auditing firms providing services to local government must update their internal working papers, disclosure checklists, and automated drafting tools to match the 2025/26 mSCOA Specimen AFS.
  • For your clients: Municipal clients and municipal entities must implement these updated templates for their 2025/26 financial year-end reporting to avoid non-compliance flags during National Treasury automated data string validations and Auditor-General audits.

Originally published at https://accountingacademy.co.za/news/read/national-treasury-2025-26-updated-mscoa-specimen-afs

The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Acts Online. Acts Online accepts no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or fairness of the article, nor does the information contained herein constitute advice, legal or otherwise.