FEATURE FOCUS: FINANCE
will eventually have to face the outside pressure, and opprobrium, of the regulators. This level of pressure requires immense focus and a scrupulous attention to detail. It also, in an increasingly complex landscape, demands the most powerful management software, customised for the job.
This is particularly vital where relevant staff are spread, across several sites yet all need to be able to access the financial software. Staff can even access or input data through apps, using multiple different device types.
The tech behind the apps can also be set up to signal alerts when spending is reaching predetermined red lines, or has gone over budget. Just think what a difference that could make in future, and how much stress could have been prevented.
face in the near future. This invaluable feature allows schools to prepare for potential changes in pupil numbers, staffing, income, or circumstances further outside of their control – such as a sudden, national lockdown.
Cloud-based platforms are also highly secure, and enable integration with third-party financial management systems already in common usage, such as Access Education Finance. And they provide useful functions such as the scanning of receipts, invoices and other documents straight into the system to speed up payroll and expenses systems.
daunting the task of compiling these audits becomes and by enabling schools to electronically submit this information, is a huge advantage for a busy finance team.
This move also highlights how leaving this process to one business manager or finance director working on a legacy system is now practically impossible. As in every other sector of commerce, industry and public services, digital tech is transforming the status quo in educational, financial management, for the better.
Peace of mind
The ideal system understands that to fully control and optimise school finances requires a multitude of functions and practices, all providing accurate and reliable results. And crucially that this needs to be fully integrated, end-to-end.
That’s because a business manager or finance director’s role is both inward and outward- looking. They must manage and tighten up internal processes, while also facing the scrutiny of both the board of trustees, and outside bodies. If internal procedures and systems aren’t followed to the letter, or the decimal point; if all those small things don’t add up, then a school
Instead of using impenetrable spreadsheets that require long hours of spade work to extract this kind of data, think how beneficial it could be to have clear, instant visibility of a budget balance, and be instantly informed when spending is getting too high.
Putting education first
Business managers won’t need to be told about how transformative this could be. They will also understand how a school or academy could be better equipped for the future, from preparing for growth to dealing with unforeseen future events and everything in between. Although the budgeting and finance staff might relish the many benefits this offers to their working lives, the ultimate beneficiaries would be the pupils and their parents.
Because it comes down to this: a well- managed, financially healthy school is the best possible place to prepare pupils for the future, safe in the knowledge that its own future is as secure as can be in the pressured and changing world of education today.
For more advice and information on improving your school’s auditing process, visit: u
https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/ blog/edu-tips-to-improve-auditing-process- in-education/
Better future practices
Just think what a huge difference all this could make to a school or academy’s operations. The hundreds of hours that could be saved each academic year in completing laborious, time- consuming but vital administrative tasks – one of our own clients estimates two, three or more days operationally each month.
And think how invaluable it is to know that you have a rigorous system in place that will help you avoid the worst-case scenario of facing extra ESFA scrutiny due to breaches of the guidelines. Or even worse, the public ticking off that can follow if poor practices aren’t quickly remedied. Every academy trustee and staff member will be familiar with the December 31st deadline and despite the DfE having developed technology to help reduce the burden on schools associated with submitting their financial information, it’s nevertheless a stressful time.
Increasingly as academies grow and join or form MATs, the larger, more complex, and more
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