2. Chris James, Senior Accountant at Alan Patient & Co
This week Tim travels to Woodford to the offices of Chris James, a Senior Accountant at Alan Patient & Co a London firm providing accountancy services to schools across the UK.
On this episode Chris James talks:
The first academy they worked with
How the above panned out
Schools’ experience prior to academising
‘Good housekeeping’ prior to academisation
The higher level of accountancy scrutiny after academisation
Investing in higher accountancy systems to address the above
The benefit of increase financial clarity in helping make decisions
Ensuring the children get the best education possible
The skill-level of site managers required to operate investments
Whether accountants need to be involved earlier in the process
The key times to prepare schools for the conversion process
The important of the due diligence stage
Advising schools’ liabilities at as early a stage as possible
Finding ways in which everyone can work collaboratively so that schools have a better service at the front end
What successes they have noted with schools going from public sector to private
How conversions work best when schools go to them at an earlier stage
The potential confusion of schools at their first audit
How investing in decent systems and skills leads to better audits
How audits can be helpful to identify ways forward
How larger MATs and secondary levels with directors of finance grasp the changes quicker
Supporting smaller primaries that don’t have the resources for directors of finance
Lloyds Bank dominating the sector by providing single points of contact
How they started in the commercial sector
The brand new element of compliance and reporting academisation brings schools
Teachers being asked to be accounting officers
Important to show understanding in terms of what they’re going through
The importance of supporting and reassuring schools
How many schools have converted at risk
Supporting schools in cutting costs and setting up new revenue streams
Hammering it home that ‘they are a business now’
How the revenue from the business is reinvested into education
Finding themselves advising more on the above options
Obtaining value for money being paramount
Results from the Improvement Fund
Value for money raising from 15 to 25%
The impact the above has on schools
50% of academised schools in year deficit
The potentially bleak future for schools that cannot support themselves
Small trusts or stand alone schools being encouraged to join larger ones
Potential future funding streams to help schools stay in small MATs – trying to maximise income, allowing more uses of their facilities, trying to minimise their costs
The benefits of working with professionals early on in academisation process
How schools should approach professional services before they convert to put them in a far stronger position
How all parties involved would better prepare schools with if they provided a more unified wraparound service
The aim to help as many schools as possible to make sure that they have the financial reporting and information that they are compliant and can also make the best decisions so they know they can provide the best education for the children
Passing on skills to the trustees so that they can be better equipped to cope with academisation
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