Lighthouse Education Consultancy
When supporting numerous schools, academies and Trusts with their budgeting and finance processes, Lisa Peacock, founder and managing director of Lighthouse Education Consultancy, says there is one piece of software she will always recommend time and time again; the Access Education Finance & Budgeting software.
- Access Education Budgets
- Access Education Finance
Consulting schools, academies and Trust with Access Education
Lighthouse Education Consultancy is part of a team of friendly, experienced and amenable education finance specialists. From financial consultancy, implementation or support on finance packages, guidance around strategic financial planning and even temporary cover for finance teams, the team at Lighthouse are committed to helping school finance teams be the best they can be.
Here Lisa gives her thoughts on the Access Finance and Budgeting software.
Why Access Education?
I’ve used the Access Budgeting software for many years and have seen it develop from its inception on floppy disks, then to Excel and now to a cloud-based product. For me, the functionality of the Access products and the ease of use is what makes them stand out from other solutions on the market.
The Trust I’m currently supporting is brand new and therefore needed a package that would be straightforward to implement from the word go. We required a product that would be straightforward enough for the schools to use whilst having the high-level reporting functionality needed for management accounts and to satisfy the ESFA requirements.
Having used the Access software in a lot of Trusts and at several other schools, I knew that the Access Finance and Budgeting software ticked all the boxes; it’s intuitive, the terminology used is unambiguous and the functionality is constantly improving.
Standout functionality and its impacts
The central functionality is invaluable for both saving time and ensuring consistency. Being able to log on and answer questions from school office staff in real-time is also very useful. It means they are not waiting for a solution and I’m able to deal with any queries as they arise.
Time is saved by not having to ensure that each establishment is updated when we create a new supplier or ledger code, thanks to the central functionality The ability to create user profiles which can be assigned at school level has saved the most time, especially as there are many distractions when working in school offices and interruptions are inevitable during the day. Both these time saving factors help improve consistency across the Trust.
Head teachers are now able to instantly see the impact of any staffing decisions made and have full control over their school budgets.
Going forward
Budget Holders within schools will be given access to monitor their own budgets and to input their own requisitions. This will be a great benefit to them, as they won’t be reliant on others for information or waiting for orders to be processed.
By having real time information to hand, head teachers can make decisions immediately about whether the budget will allow additional purchases that can benefit the pupils in school at that time; it’s no good having to wait until the end of the financial year to know if there are sufficient funds to afford projects.
We can also accurately monitor performance in real time and schools now have more control over what their finances look like and are not reliant on the LA to know what their latest forecasts are.
Find out more about our leading functionality
The Cloud
Spare office space in schools is like gold dust so there are occasions when being able to work from home has suited everyone. There are no restrictions in being able to access the products remotely. As the reports export to PDF and Excel, there are no issues around printing or saving, like I have encountered in the past with other software solutions.
I have recommended Access to a number of existing MATs, Academies and Schools and will continue to do so.
Benefits summary of Access Education Budgets & Finance according to Lighthouse Education Consultancy
- Cloud-based software that facilitates a remote working environment
- Straightforward implementation
- Ease of use of the software
- High-level reporting functionality to satisfy ESFA requirements
- An intuitive system with unambiguous terminology and functionality that is constantly being developed
- Real-time data to help accurately monitor performance
- Increases control over school finances and allows you to instantly see the financial impact of decisions
- Central functionality to save time and ensure consistency
- Grows proactive employees and facilitates autonomy