Financial software for multi-academy trusts: Balancing school autonomy and central oversight

Centralising processes provides myriad benefits, with opportunities to streamline workflows and set overarching standards. Trust-wide visibility and management capabilities are essential to ensure good governance and instill shared values across the organisation.

Trusts will usually have a central support — or “shared services” — team to handle the HR, administrative and financial responsibilities associated with academy status. Kreston UK’s Academies Benchmark Report showed that 32% of MATs were pooling GAG funding and reserves to support centralisation, up from 23% the previous year. This can help alleviate the pressure on headteachers and school leaders, giving them control over learning while protecting their calendars from excessive administrative tasks. In an Ofsted report, interviewees said that centralised back-office support with finance, administration and HR functions helped solve their problems and made it possible for school leaders to focus on instructional leadership.

To successfully centralise financial processes, trusts should consider moving to one platform that can be used by shared services teams as well as schools. Disparate systems can cause a number of issues including process duplication, unclear or limited data and a lack of visibility. Unified financial software deployed across the trust’s sites will prove intrinsic to good management.

The importance of school-level autonomy in MATs

Each school within a MAT will have its own unique identity, community, contexts and pupil demographics. When serving distinct communities, different needs will arise — schools will require a certain degree of autonomy to support diversity and build an inclusive culture.

What does this mean in practice? Schools often retain autonomy in many practical areas of teaching, managing their own curriculums and setting behaviour policies. Headteachers are empowered to retain their leadership within the academy structure, advocating for their pupil cohort.

In terms of budgeting and finances, schools need the autonomy to allocate and manage resources based on their site requirements, which can vary significantly across a MAT. It’s important that schools have a way to implement and track their own budgets so that everyday functions are handled seamlessly. Some trusts adopt a “top slicing” approach, where schools retain and manage their own general annual grant (GAG), but a percentage is taken to fund centralised services. Finance and budgeting software for MATs can provide the necessary functionality to underpin the trust’s chosen approach. 

The right financial software is a fundamental tool for MATs, enabling flexible decision making across schools within a centralised framework. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve the necessary balance between autonomy and centralisation when schools are using their own individual systems.

These are some of the key features to look for in financial software for multi-academy trusts:

Reporting and auditing

Reporting capabilities covering single schools up to the whole trust are essential, as is the ability to complete and submit the academies accounts return (AAR) from one central system. Good reporting helps to ensure schools comply with trust policies and standards, and all data will be readily available for auditing and compliance procedures. Schools should be able to run reports covering financial management (balance sheets, income and expenditure etc.), academy accounts returns (AAR), payments, payroll, cashflow forecasting, VAT returns and more.

Role-based access

This should be managed at the trust level, setting permissions for individual users according to their roles and responsibilities. Clear delegation of authority allows for the autonomous and uninterrupted use of software by the right people, with guardrails in place to ensure compliance and data security.

Scenario planning

The ability to forecast and plan for different scenarios can give instant insights into the potential impact on schools, as well as the whole trust. This level of understanding is needed when considering the implications of recruitment, restructuring, construction work and more — different budgeting strategies can be carefully considered without risking disruption to the financial framework.

Flexible banking

Multi and single accounts should be supported across sites, plus electronic bank reconciliation should be available as standard to optimise accuracy across the trust. MATs should also be able to post one journal to various schools for inter-school transactions, so accounts can be managed individually, centrally and with sub-branches.  

The benefits of centralised finance systems with local flexibility

These are some of the key benefits of financial software for multi-academy trusts that can support both central and school-based operations: 

• Improved efficiency. Centralising processes can mean doing them once instead of multiple times, cutting out unnecessary admin. When local management is needed, using standardised, approved tools will help keep processes running smoothly and efficiently.
• Informed decision-making. With accurate, real-time data available at school and trust levels, leaders have the tools they need at their fingertips to make informed decisions.
• Compliance. Using an approved tool that can manage the bulk of financial work provides automatic guardrails, making it easier to follow the correct compliance procedures. Plus, storing all information in the system will help with auditing processes. 
• Accuracy. Financial management with pre-approved software helps to ensure the accuracy of processes, procedures and reporting. With central oversight and standardised ways of working, output across the trust should be reliable and accurate.
• Enhanced accountability. Software can support the trust’s finance and compliance frameworks, giving schools the freedom to address their unique challenges while remaining accountable to trust-wide goals and governance. 

For Learning Accord Multi Academy Trust, Access Education software has revolutionised financial decision-making. Gemma Falconer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Finance Officer, said “One of the biggest benefits of the budgeting software is its ability to quickly provide answers for budget scenarios. Previously, schools under the local authority had to wait up to a week for a response from the LA’s finance team… We use our budgeting model to run various scenarios. For example, if someone needs to reduce three teaching positions and restructure, I can quickly create a mock-up of the restructuring costs. This capability is incredibly beneficial.” 

The system supports the trust’s balance between autonomy and oversight, giving schools the flexibility to set their own budgets. At the same time, the centralised system ensures consistency and alignment. This means schools can manage their finances effectively while adhering to the trust’s financial standards.

For the Learning Partners Academy Trust, a collaborative MAT comprising 12 schools, Access Education’s budgeting and finance software has helped maintain consistency and improve visibility.

Opting for an integrated system has increased efficiency across the trust. After merging with another local trust in 2021, they have been able to navigate the process with one unified system to support their schools. “The Access software has enabled us to progress as a merged organisation… With a clear understanding of where money is being spent, resource allocation becomes easier and metrics become more accurate,” said Patrick Overy, the trust’s Chief Financial Officer. “Schools often feel they need to make financial savings during the year due to budget constraints then end up finding a surplus at the end of the financial year... by now having a finance system in place, which is easy to understand with robust reporting processes, we can prevent this from happening and ensure schools are aware of the resources available to them.”

Finding the right financial software for your MAT

MATs generally fare best with an integrated software system that can support a balanced approach to finance and budgeting processes. Trust leaders should look to integrated systems with strong reporting, scenario planning and role-based access features to get the most out of their software and navigate the intricacies of managing a MAT.

Access Education is a leading provider of financial software for MATs including centralised budgeting systems. We’re trusted by over 9,000 learning institutions and can help you achieve the balance you need to run your MAT successfully. Our clients appreciate our software, as well as the service we provide: “Julie from customer success really held my hand through the whole process,” said Gemma Falconer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Finance Officer of Learning Accord Trust. “When you go through any sort of change management process, knowing you’ve got somebody at the end of the phone is appreciated.” Find out how we can revolutionise processes for your MAT — get in touch to speak with our expert team.