How do you exercise your accountability?
Becoming an Academy Trust brings new challenges and responsibilities. The Academies Financial Handbook requires a high standard of Financial Governance.
Governors and Principals (particularly in MATs) need to understand what they are accountable for and how this accountability is exercised.
Good financial governance needs to be embedded in every aspect of the day to day operations of the academy.
How We Can Help
We are committed to working with Academies and MATs to help improve financial governance and controls in line with the requirements of the Academies Financial Handbook.
Specifically we can help your Governing Body or MAT Board to:
- Understand what they are held accountable for in terms of financial governance
- Have a basic understanding of the financial report and accounts that they will have to sign-off at the year-end
- Explore how to exercise accountability though a scheme of delegation
- Review the mechanisms for holding the organisation to account including the development of robust KPIs;
- Consider how a system of risk management would operate;
- Explain the external audit process and the role of the audit committee;
- Consider the options for ensuring controls are regularly reviewed; and
- Review the governance structure and committee terms of reference to check they are appropriate.
We will also explain the specific role of the Accounting Officer (usually the Academy Principal or MAT Chief Executive) in safeguarding the use of public money.
Our experienced consultants can deliver this programme through Governor training. Alternatively we can run a series of facilitated workshops to work through these issues and to produce deliverables such as the scheme of delegation.
We are flexible in working with you in a way that suits your needs and budget.
Our work will increase the confidence of Governors and Principals in discussing and dealing with financial matters.
EBM – Our Credentials
EBM, through its significant experience and previous working links with PKF and BDO, is one of the UK’s leading groups of advisers to the education sector.
EBM has well developed links with the DfE in relation to MATs, Academies and Free Schools.
Our dedicated education consultants have a successful track record of delivering more than 200 Academies and Free Schools, many of them of a complex nature and to short timescales. Our extensive track record has ensured that we are the team of choice for a number of multi-sponsor organisations throughout the country.
Why choose EBM?
- Our team has in-depth experience of the academy sector having set-up over 180 academies and free schools
- We have significant experience in the setting up of complex governance structures including establishing MATS
- As a professional business services firm, we are able to draw on the skills and experience of relevant professionals to advise you including auditors and tax experts.
- Our aim is to provide service excellence at realistic rates.