Your Summary Notes: CFO & COO INSIDER - Laying a Foundation for Growth

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On February 29th we delivered the latest CFO & COO INSIDER - a live, regular discussion about the trust finance topics that matter most.

In ‘Laying a Foundation for Growth' Leyla was joined by Christopher Dryer (Director of Finance & Operations, St Bartholomew's CE Multi Academy Trust) to explore the benefits of ensuring scalable systems and processes are in place prior to MAT growth. This webinar followed Christopher's recent guest academy administration blog, covering invoice automation, MAT finance and more.

15 questions from the attendee chat

Thanks to those who asked questions and we hope this is useful insight for all.

1. At the inception of the trust, what is the one thing you wished you had known/done at that time?

The induction process for new schools joining the Trust – becoming an academy is a significant culture shock and impacts the school office function the most in that initial period. We are still tweaking this induction process as I don’t think we have yet got it spot on in terms of supporting that transition process.

Communication is another key one. We could communicate more effectively, and growth could make this harder. The fast-paced nature of education and how the sector is constantly changing has meant that sometimes communication has not been as clear as it could have been.

2. So does the central team actually raise the PO from the school's approved request?

No, requisitions and POs are raised at school level and Heads approve (unless delegation levels require more senior approval).

3. We are on a finance centralisation journey, with one of the last hurdles being moving to a position where requisitions themselves are raised centrally. This feels the only way to finally solve the problem of mis-coding. It sounds as though you are happy to leave that with schools. Is it something you would consider in the future?

Probably not as this is how we allow ‘autonomy’ at school level in terms of what they can purchase. With processing invoices centrally we have the ability within the finance system that we use to change the coding at this stage of the process if required.

4. Are you able to share your central structure Chris, we are also reviewing this and it would be good to see what you have managed to achieve in terms of centralisation?

Central structure is:

• DFO (full-year, full-time) with strategic responsibility for anything that is not teaching and learning (i.e. finance, ICT, estates, H&S, HR, data, etc.). This role does get involved in some operational elements but as we grow this will reduce / be removed.
• Senior Trust Business Manager (full-year, full-time) with operational responsibility for finance namely management accounts, budgets, invoice approval, and payroll reconciliations.
• Admin Assistant (term-time only, full-time) with transactional responsibility for finance namely all bank transactions, bank reconciliation, MAT sales invoices, and purchase invoices.
• Admin Manager (term-time only, 3 days a week) with responsibility for processing HR contractual changes through the 3rd party payroll system, co-ordination of training, and PA to DFO.
• Estates, Health, and Safety Manager (full-year, full-time) with operational responsibility for estates and facilities management, health and safety, statutory compliance, reactive and planned maintenance, capital projects etc.
• HR case work (absence management, disciplinary, capability, etc.), payroll, and ICT are all outsourced.

5. What is make up of your Central Team, what other services do you provide centrally? What does contribution to Central Fund look like or do you GAG pool?

See above. This is funded through a top-slice on GAG of 5% for Good/Outstanding schools, 6.5% for RI, and 7.5% for Inadequate. The increased rates for category schools are for the additional school improvement support that is provided. We don’t currently GAG pool.

6. How to you achieve economies of scales if individual schools are raising their own purchase order or do you select the supplier and collate for bulk ordering?

We have frameworks and MAT deals in place with regular suppliers. We also have a single contract register administered at MAT level where we monitor licences and SLAs across the Trust. This enables the MAT to then undertake trust wide procurement to take advantage of economies of scale. Because of the level of MAT contracts in place, orders at school level are typically curriculum resources, hygiene and cleaning supplies, trips, and repair costs.

7. We are reviewing finance systems at present. Is there a recommended or best in industry finance system for MATs - I have not found one with a budget planning tool embedded and one that reconciles payroll within the finance system - what system do you use?

There are several finance systems now that will meet the requirements of MATs with most integrating with budget software. 

8. How many children are in your Trust, Chris?

We are currently 2,500 children, all primary schools (our schools range from half-form entry rural village schools with less than 100 children up to three-form entry inner city schools with up to 700 children). Growth over the next 12-18 months is likely to put us at 4,000 children by 31 August 2025.

9. Are there SBMs in each school still?

We have this in one school and have adapted our procedures to upskills and assist that individual with meeting the requirements of the MAT which as we know is quite different to the maintained school sector.

10. One of the areas we are struggling with is the different paid weeks calculations across Local Authority boundaries. It has had various implications for our budgeting/forecasting and payroll software. Is this something you have faced?

Yes, whilst we have a MAT pay structure and weeks this is only relevant to new staff and not individuals who have come across under TUPE. The budgeting software that we utilise is able to cope with multiple paid weeks and pay scales so doesn’t impede our ability to forecast.

11. Are you happy to share your top slice %?

Top-slice on GAG of 5% for Good/Outstanding schools, 6.5% for RI, and 7.5% for Inadequate. Please bear in mind though that the services provided through a MAT’s top-slice can vary significantly across the Trusts.

12. In a primary model how do make good use of IFCM?

I’m assuming this means Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning. We use a range of 10 metrics, predominantly staffing focused, to assess the sustainability of a school and establish where resources are being director. This enables us to discuss the analysis with School Leaders linked to their school’s priorities and are they achieving the outcomes that they desire from the funds that are invested. Where a school is struggling financially these metrics also help us to identify areas where savings can be achieved. ICFP is not a solution but a tool that enables more focused discussion to ensure that resources are directed to where they will have the greatest impact.

13. We don't have capacity for a central office, which I feel is a barrier to centralising finance and HR which is what we really would like to do has anyone got experience of centralising functions but without having staff based all together in a central office?

We have managed to utilise a small space within one of our larger schools and have another office at one other school. Our staff quite often hot desk and work from home so their place of work does vary. This doesn’t appear to cause barriers, but communication plays a key part. We catch up regularly on Teams, use the chat function, as well as email so that we can ensure that we continue to work as a team and achieve the deadlines that are set.

14. In terms of the central finance transactional processing do you have a ratio for finance officers to schools in terms of their capacity for processing? We are developing a similar central team and struggling with capacity at the moment for processing? We use automated invoice and PO process- however with the OCR (optical character reading) there is often more time spent fixing the automatic reading to the correct suppliers or details

No, unfortunately not.

15. Where does payroll sit in terms of centralisation?

We have centralised the processing of contractual changes, starters, leavers, etc. on the payroll system but the actual calculation of payroll is undertaken by a third party.

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