FEATURE FOCUS: FINANCE
Balancing the books: modernising school finance
in energy prices, budgeting has, arguably, never been as challenging.
Unfortunately, this situation comes as many are still grappling with the lasting effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on their finances - a situation that impacted every school differently. While some have managed to weather the storm relatively well, even coming out in good financial health, others have racked up major deficits, to the point of insolvency.
Staying solvent
Not only are schools now subject to wider pressures and the aforementioned rising energy bills, they are also, as publicly-funded bodies, under constant and intense oversight by the ESFA to ensure ‘good financial management and governance’, with potentially severe consequences for breaches.
To stay on the good side of the authorities requires a trust to take a business-like approach to its own books.
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n our second feature this month looking at school finances, Jane Gibson, from school business software specialist Access Education, looks at how schools can achieve a balanced budget, despite the soaring costs they are facing.
With experts warning that schools face an ‘apocalyptic’ situation this winter given the surge
Sound financial management, the Academies Trust Handbook makes abundantly clear, requires a whole spectrum of complex practices, skills and tools that go far beyond traditional school budgeting and accounting processes. Budgets have to be balanced, future growth forecasts must be prepared, steps have to be taken to ensure proper ESFA reporting and compliance. Furthermore, minutes and records must be kept, internal governance and scrutiny measures introduced and adhered to,
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and tenancies and leaseholds managed and honoured.
It all adds up to a major commitment, one which can overwhelm trustees and academy boards when they are established and realise that their legacy systems won’t do the job.
21st century solutions
To manage it all successfully and responsibly – and most of all deliver value for pupils and parents – it is imperative that trustees are up to speed with the latest thinking in educational finance, and supplied with the tools to apply those best practice lessons.
In the modern era that means digital tech, and in particular, specialised school budgeting software.
Designed with schools, academies, MATs and local educational authorities in mind, enabling a huge range of tasks and skills within one integrated, cloud-based system, software like this can be transformative.
The most powerful platforms arm financial directors with a complete, comprehensive system of budget planning and management. With this tech at their disposal, directors can fully control all income and expenditure calculations, covering everything from HR’s monthly staffing profile and pupil reports, to ESFA compliance reporting, to financial forward planning and real-time tracking of spend. These systems also provide for financial modelling based on scenarios a school is likely to
November 2022
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