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Access Education Budgets

MAT budgeting software

Budget software for multi-academy trusts who are serious about growth

Access Education Budgets is the software for trust-wide forecasting, scenario planning and reporting. Used by more than a thousand large and small MATs for all their budgeting needs.

Special features support the broader financial management requirements of multi-academy trusts. You can work at and produce plans and reports at a trust or school level or select a specific group of schools for your required activities.

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1,000+ MATs trust our budgeting software

Why choose our MAT budgeting software?

Our MAT budget planning software is scalable and will save your trust money through increased efficiencies and the ability to add unlimited users at no extra cost.

Central control

You can control a range of factors at the central trust level including pay scales, profile templates and inflation factors and push these out to the schools.

Consolidated reporting

From BFR to budget monitoring and a trust-wide overview report, you can produce and view powerful reports at the trust and school level all in real-time.

A scalable solution for growing MATs

Access Education Budgets is scalable. Bringing additional schools into your MAT is all part of BAU with the ability to add unlimited users at no extra cost.

Secure and cloud-based

Often central staff will be based in a range of different locations. 100% cloud-based software with secure access through Access Workspace, anytime, anywhere, means that staff have everything they need wherever they are.

5-year forecasting

Forecast and plan your budget for up to 5 years, increasing your visibility so your school can avoid deficits and track spending. Tweak as needed from the ‘snapshot’ view, avoiding manual data analysis and entry.

Scenario planning and salary modelling

Model the financial impact of multiple scenarios such as changes in staff, pay, pupils, income, expenditure and more. This is now even easier with our latest budget forecasting functionality, allowing you to make changes within the ‘snapshot’ view.

Income & expenditure

Track, manage and report on all your MATs income and expenditure to ensure your budget stays on track.

DfE & ESFA reports

Our Governor Report combines your forecast budget with actual income and expenditure commitments, while our ESFA report helps academies submit their budget forecast returns (BFR)

Take control of your financial future with our MAT budgeting software

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Reforecasting feature now available in the Snapshot view

Revolutionise budget management with direct adjustments, eliminating manual updates

Now you can track your budget year-round, tweaking it as needed - based on expected outcomes, end-of-year projections, and variances, all from one convenient view. 

Bid farewell to manual data analysis and entry, and welcome faster decision-making, time savings, and enhanced data quality.

Watch a 9-minute demo

Centralised planning and reporting across your trust

Meet Academy and Trust level requirements, providing views at both levels.

With Access Central Budgets, you get a consolidated and elevated view of multiple establishments across your whole Trust.​

  • Real-time data: Stay up-to-date with real-time budget planning and actuals data.
  • Trust and academy level view: Shared understanding of budgets by both the Trust and Academies thanks to a two-way flow of data.
  • Clear decision making: Make clear decisions with actionable insights for both standard and 'what-if' scenarios.

Say goodbye to repetitive manual tasks and data entry, and welcome unbeatable consistency and clarity into your financial processes.

Download Central Budgets brochure Book a Central Budgets demo

Manage staff costs and payroll reconciliation

Managing staff costs in a growing MAT is no mean feat. Access Education Budgets keep your staff costs up to date with nationally applied staffing costs and adjustments calculated for you. These automatically take into account multiple contracts, pay scales, pensions and allowances.

And by importing your monthly payroll file you can automatically reconcile expected and actual monthly payments and see an up-to-date view of cost-versus-budget variances against critical fields such as total pay, pension payments and National Insurance, easily tracking budgeted spend against actual payments.

Scenario planning and 5-year forecasting with our budgeting software for MATs

Create precise 5-year budgets and forecasts with school-specific settings

Our system calculates staff costs, considering contracts, scales, FTE hours, pensions, and allowances.

Easily model 'What if?' scenarios for staff, pay, pupil numbers, income, or expenses, empowering you to craft effective short, medium, and long-term plans. This saves time with simplified decision-making for short, medium, and long-term plans.

Plus, utilise our latest budget adjustment feature for real-time modifications based on evolving variables.

Consolidated reporting

You can plan and report at a school, group or trust level while setting user permission controls for individual academies. An extensive reporting suite allows you to quickly generate customisable, easy-to-understand reports in a variety of formats, including

  • Budget Forecast Return (BFR)
  • Budget monitoring
  • MAT overview report
  • Income and expenditure
  • Monthly staffing profile and pupil reports
  • Payroll reconciliation
  • A comprehensive budget dashboard

MAT specific reporting combines your budget forecast with actual income and expenditure commitments and presents data at the highest level or down to individual schools, groups and ledger codes.

General Annual Grant (GAG) pooling

Automating the process of pooling the General Annual Grant (GAG) funding can increase efficiencies across your trust. For MATs operating in this way, calculating the distribution of funds can save time and free up central staff.

People gathering around and looking at the laptop

Why customers love our MAT budgeting software

The software presents our data in a more intuitive and user-friendly way

Teachers now also have a much clearer understanding of what their budget is and how much they have left to spend. Two years ago, they would have had to ask their headteacher, who would then speak to the finance team which was hugely inefficient and made forward planning difficult.
Read customer story
David Myatt - Chief Financial Officer Dealt Education Alliance for Learning Trust (DEALT)

Access Education Budgets is 10x better than what we were using before

It’s exceptionally easy to produce management accounts and it is easy to follow with a clear ‘narrative’. I have received a lot of positive feedback from governors and trustees!

Read customer story

Tim Marsh - Business Director Every Child Matters Academy Trust

The whole team finds the software incredibly user-friendly and intuitive to use

The Access software has helped streamline our processes, downloading all the required reports across our 45 sites now takes around a day per month, and without the software this would take much longer.

Read customer story

Rachel Carter - Head of Finance The Kemnal Academies Trust

MAT budget planning software resources

01 08

On-demand webinar: Benefits of integrated Budgets & Finance for academies & MATs

The webinar covers:

  • Roadmap and plans for Access Education Budgets for academies and Multi-Academy Trusts
  • Learn about how to increase your academy or MAT's operational efficiency with integrated Finance & Budgets - short demo
Watch webinar
02 08

Introducing Central Budgets: Benefits of centralised planning and reporting for MATs

Watch the webinar to: 

  • Hear tips about how to leverage centralisation of planning and reporting across your trust and eliminate manual and time-consuming processes 
  • See an overview and demo of Access Education Central Budgets and its two-way flow of data between the trust and academies
Watch webinar
03 08

5 key benefits of centralisation for Multi-Academy Trusts

Our guide covers:

  • Benefits of MAT centralisation: A real-life example
  • 5 benefits of MAT centralisation
  • How Access Central Budgets can help
Read guide
04 08

Your tender document cheat code

Procuring operational education software but don’t know where to begin? In this guide, we cover everything you need to create the perfect tender document.

Read guide
05 08

Budget deficits - A guide to avoidance and recovery

Our guide looks at: 

  • The importance of planning and most common budgeting mistakes
  • Key tips for budgeting your staffing costs
  • Key recruitment tips 
  • Keeping costs under control and what budgeting tools are available to help 
Read guide
06 08

Curriculum-based financial planning

Funding is becoming tighter, and finances are being squeezed. You’re expected to do more with the same – or even less. With staffing costs making up around 80% of an average school’s expenditure, balancing the budget while focusing on a broad and balanced curriculum is an ongoing challenge.

Read guide
07 08

Pros and cons of centralisation

Our latest report looks at:

  • Is centralisation right for your MAT?
  • Technology: Embracing change a necessity
Read guide
08 08

Planning and forecasting your school budget effectively

This guide takes you through:

  • Key stages of the school budget preparation process
  • Gives you practical advice for better planning
  • Provides hints and tips for more accurate forecasting
Read guide