Comparison of accounting software for schools, academies and MATs

Things to consider when thinking about education finance software

Navigating the process of selecting school finance software as a school, academy, or trust can be a daunting task with a range of solutions on offer from companies small and large. There are some key areas for consideration when selecting your finance software which require careful investigation.

Sector expertise

As you begin to review finance offerings from various suppliers you will begin to notice that many offer the same finance solutions to multiple sectors. As a finance professional, you will know this can leave gaps in functionality as well as requiring certain activities to be carried out manually in spreadsheets, increasing both the work load, and the risk of error.

Schools, academies and MATs that choose a partner such as Access Education find a finance solution tailored to the education sector, for example being DfE and ESFA compliant including the production of statutory CFR. For trusts, finance teams using Access Education Finance find MAT-specific features such as central control, flexible banking, reporting at trust or school level as well as functionality to allow easy creations and submission of Academy Account Returns.

With sector expertise, look for supporting data to reassure yourself that you’re in good company - Access Education, for example, can be found at one in three UK schools and 50% of academies.

Ease of use and navigation

In a large multi-academy trust the people using your finance or accounting system are likely to be specialists. However, that’s not always true for single site schools or smaller trusts. If the people using the software every day, such as a school business manager, are not used to complex accounting systems or if they have been used to spreadsheets for a number of years, having a tool that is simple, straightforward and easy to use will be key.

Apple believes that their focus on simplicity has been one of the key driving forces in their success. Simplicity is a good thing and it allows people to do things quicker and easier which is good for the individual and the organisation

Functionality and features

A school, academy or trust should review the functionality available through any system being reviewed. If you are a growing MAT you will be most interested in central controls and consolidated reporting to create your own scheme of delegation as well as surfacing up the key information. While an individual school might be more interested in interrogating transactions, searching particular cost centres and migrating your existing Chart of Accounts structure.  

It’s important to think about your key requirements and prioritise accordingly. If reviewing several vendors, be sure to take note if elements that are only available through higher level packages to avoid any unwelcome surprises later in the process. As well as functionality, be sure to review the customisation options for users, as these can be key areas of time-saving through more efficient use of the system. Ideally, individual users should be able to customise the user interface to their preferences and unique role priorities.

With Access Education Finance you get robust accounting processes that are DfE and ESFA compliant, including CFR and SOFA returns. Our reporting suites gives you an overview and insight into your school, academy or trust’s financial performance. We also offer electronic back reconciliation along with integrations to our suite of education products.

Compatibility with existing systems

You should also carefully consider how the school finance software will fit into the suite of software currently used by the organisation. Integration between software and platforms is key to running an efficient finance department, with the ability to make data-led decisions with an accurate view of the school, academy or trust. Integration doesn’t necessarily mean you have to procure all your software from a single provider but asking the integration questions from the outset reduces the need to use people as data stepping stones. This not only removes the need for time-consuming efforts in inputting data multiple times, as well as reducing the risk of human error in manual data entry. Beyond integration, also consider the ability to scale. If you’re a MAT for example, how easily would it be to bring on an additional school? Ideally you want to be able to focus on embedding the newbie into your culture and have all the financial and operational tasks as easy and quick as possible.

Customer support and training

Support is a key consideration for schools, academies and trusts. You should look for a supplier who offers responsive and knowledgeable technical support. As well as phone and email support, which you’d expect as standard, it’s often useful to have access to online support materials such as knowledge bases, user forums as well as offerings such as in-person events and webinars. Customer services teams can be a key contact as part of your relationship with the supplier.

Cost and affordability

A key consideration will always be around the cost of the software. This is sometimes hard to look at like for like between vendors as there will be variations in the breakdown as well as what is being offered. Where possible look at the total cost of ownership across implementation costs, initial and ongoing training costs, licensing fees, support costs, and any additional hardware or infrastructure requirements. It is important to choose a vendor that offers transparent pricing, with no hidden fees or difficult to break down variable costs.

Another consideration to make when considering the cost of education software, is the return on investment. There are time savings to consider through streamlining processes, and in some cases an opportunity to reduce headcount cost. There are cost savings to procuring from a single or multiple vendors. With the former, there will be some base platform and support costs that can be reduced by moving to a single suite offering. There are also common time savings around regular month and year end reporting when moving to a more powerful system.

If your finance processes are already inefficient, perhaps due to more than one legacy system, these problems will only get bigger over time, as new legislation comes into force or if the trust takes on new schools. It’s vital to have the right operational systems in place and to have a single, accurate record for budgeting and accounting. Without this, you’ll struggle to respond to changes and integrate new staff, and this will simply create more problems.

Consider how many hours a month is spent on administrative-heavy tasks such as:

• Order processing
• Schemes of delegation and approval workflows
• Payroll reconciliation
• Budget monitoring
• Updating staff details, including hours, pension and national insurance payments
• Sourcing key income and expenditure analysis
• Producing reports for the board
• Completing VAT returns
• Completing your statement of financial activities and budget forecast returns
• Consolidating information across your trust

Compliance

Compliance should be a integrated throughout your financial planning and activity. You want to be able to submit the right returns at the right time to the right organisation, for example your Annual Accounts Return directly to the IDAMS website, and ensure compliance. Selecting a education-specific provider can ensure that key reports and functionality is available as standard and any updates are all part of your package.

Security and reliability

Schools, academies and trusts always need to pay close attention to security when considering school finance software. As well as collating private details of staff, students and parents, their systems contain highly sensitive data on school finances and much more. As recently as January 2023, confidential documents from 14 UK schools were leaked online by a group of hackers after gaining access to their systems. These attacks are often followed by six-figure ransom demands. Reviewing a vendors security standards will either require input from a subject matter expert or detailed conversations during the procurement process. Look for organisations that not only offer a robust and secure platform, but are also able to support and advise on processes staff can and/or must follow to improve security e.g. two factor authentication, password strength requirements and access to data based on account privileges. Any vendor you choose should run a regular program of penetration testing and other security procedures which are vital to ensuing a secure platform.

Some specific security topics to ensure you have a full understanding of the offering include, data encryption, multi-factor authentication, automated backups, disaster recovery and access controls.

Related to security, you need to review the platform reliability. Look for a proven track record through annual uptime as interruptions to software access can be costly in terms or productivity and organisation risk.

Review of top school finance software 

PS Financials

Part of IRIS Software, PS Financials is considered an solid choice for education finance software. The software has a range of functionality that would be of interest to any finance professional, including: meeting complex reporting requirements, easy integrations with various third-party systems (e.g. MIS, banking, budgeting and more), real-time consolidation, automated income management, advanced credit control and overall ease of use. When considering PS Financials be sure to have full visibility of the total cost of ownership over the first 3-5 years and ensure that you are satisfied with the overall look and feel of the software.

SIMS Finance

SIMS Finance began its life as a finance system for schools and it is still used by many schools today. Although used by academies and MATs, some feedback suggests that its strengths for individual sites don’t easily translate to multi-sites.

The benefits of using SIMS Finance  include providing a single consolidated view as well as streamlining financial operations. Cloud based, the system is accessible from any device, at any time, it provides easy integration with SIMS Personnel for a wider view of employees, as well as reporting and a range of email functionality to automate workflows.

Back in late 2020, Capita sold SIMS Finance to ESS. Since then the company has brought in some changes which have impacted customers and gained widespread media coverage, largely related to its MIS product. You should ensure you get credible references to help you build a picture of vendors offering a similar solution.

Civica Financials

Civica Education FinancialsLIVE is a cloud-based system covering asset management, cashless catering, online payments as well as estate management. They have a large customer base and are a large organisation, which both point to a solid choice of software vendor, giving you access to free webinars, workshops and user groups. Customers have the ability to integrate with their HR, payroll asset management and payments systems.

Bromcom Finance

Bromcom Finance is a one part of a suite of education software offered by Bromcom, with their MIS playing a central role. Their system is cloud-based and through various add-ons, offers advanced reporting, budgeting, asset management, and comes with integration between Bromcom products as well as with PowerBI to enhance Bromcom’s reporting capabilities. When seeking Bromcom references, be sure to understand the full end-to-end offering, from software usability and capabilities all the way through to support.

Sage for Education

Sage for Education offers you a powerful suite of software covering budgets, funding, reporting, HR, payroll and payments for a single monthly payment. Their cloud-based system is customisable, providing drill down views on data, Excel reporting capabilities, automated bank reconciliation and a report designer for individual user needs. The system is capable of handling trust requirements, though ledger balances are visible and share across the MAT meaning schools are able to view each others bank account, dashboard, budgets and salaries. In reviewing the offering from Sage, it is important to understand their partner network for product support. Larger trusts should also be aware there is a limit of 200 users across the trust.

RM Finance

RM Finance is a robust cloud-based system that offers accounts payable transactions, cash management, financial summaries, purchase orders and more, all with role-based access for custom views and functionality needs. The system is tailored to maintained schools and academies and as such, is a good choice for shortlisting, but this means that some of the functionality offered isn’t always suitable for trusts.

Access Education Finance

Used in over 2,000 UK schools by over 9,000 school business professionals, Access Education Finance is a reputable product built for the education sector, by one of the UKs largest and fastest-growing software providers. Built exclusively for the education sector, our finance software works for schools, academies and trusts and helps you comply with the latest DfE, ESFA and HMRC regulations. Financial statements are submitted in the right format, so you save time and reduce the risk of re-formatting errors, while automating key accounting processes to improve accuracy.

Day-to-day management of your finances is made easy through enhanced out-the-box dashboards, as well as through the ability to create custom dashboards to suit your needs. The software also integration with Access Education Budgets meaning you can track real-time spending against planned expenditure, also allowing you to create cashflow forecasts to get an accurate view of future financial performance.  

Supporting trust-focussed functionality supports reporting at a school or MAT level, and unlike other suppliers, our scalable solution allows you to add unlimited users at not additional cost.

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are a common sight in the finance department and have been a powerful tool for many years. As times have developed, the need for spreadsheet has reduced, but they remain a key go-to for finance professionals.  

Budget planning: Schools often use spreadsheets to plan and manage their budgets. They can create detailed budget worksheets that include different categories of spending and revenue, such as salaries, supplies, and income. The spreadsheet can be used to track actual spending against budgeted amounts, allowing a finance professional to make adjustments as needed.

Cash flow management: Spreadsheets can be used to track cash flow, including incoming revenue and outgoing expenses. Schools can create cash flow projections to help them get ahead of any shortfalls or surpluses, and adjust their spending accordingly.

Accounting: Smaller schools or academies may use spreadsheets to keep track of basic accounting information, such as account balances, transaction records, and payment due dates.

Financial reporting: Schools often use spreadsheets to create financial reports, such as balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements to provide a snapshot of their financial position and performance.

There are, however, many downsides to using spreadsheets in education finance.

Time-consuming: Managing finances in spreadsheets can be time-consuming, particularly as the complexity of financial operations increases. Updating spreadsheets manually and reconciling data can be a laborious process, taking up valuable time that could be spent on other tasks.

Prone to errors: Spreadsheets are prone to errors, particularly if they are managed by multiple people or if the data is not consistently formatted. Even a small mistake in a formula or calculation can have significant consequences for financial reporting and decision-making.

Lack of automation: Spreadsheets lack the automation and workflow capabilities of dedicated financial management software. This can lead to inefficiencies, such as delays in processing invoices and payments.

Limited scalability: Spreadsheets may be adequate for small schools or those with simple financial needs, but they may become unwieldy and difficult to manage as the school grows or financial operations become more complex.

Compliance risks: Using spreadsheets for finance can increase the risk of non-compliance with regulations and financial reporting standards. This is particularly true if spreadsheets are not consistently updated or managed by people without appropriate experience and expertise.

Benefits of cloud-based MAT, academy and school finance software

Back in the day, in-premise software was the go-to, providing increased control over data and security. However, it also requires dedicated IT expertise and it can also be costly to purchase, store and maintain the equipment. As we progress to an increasingly digital world, on-premise software is becoming less and less popular.

Hosted by a provider and accessed via the internet, cloud-based payroll software provides easy accessibility, automatic updates, and typically lower upfront costs. It requires a reliable internet connection but that is largely standard these days. If you are a multi-academy trust, the ability to scale with cloud-based software is important if you plan to bring on more academies.

Best practices for implementing academy, MAT or school finance software 

Implementing academy, MAT or school Finance Software can be a daunting task. It’s important to think about it as a project and make sure you have the resources in place to guarantee its success.

• Establish clear goals and objectives from the outset
• Conduct a needs assessment – prioritise and make sure you’re focusing your energy on the most important things
• Involve key Stakeholders at the right time. This will help to ensure you get the buy-in you need
• Plan for Training and Support. This is so important to make sure your users have everything you need when your new system goes live. You also want to make sure that your chosen vendor gives you the right type and level of support.
• Monitor and Evaluate – a finance system is something that your staff will be using every day. It’s important that it meets your needs now and in the future. You should continue to evaluate the software and your changing needs as a school, academy or trust. Ensure your chosen provider continues to invest in R&D and supports your needs.