Many schools do not have effective school finance systems.
This means that Schools Management Teams (SMTs) do not have accurate up-to-date financial information and are therefore not able to manage finances effectively.
It also means that School Governing Bodies (SGBs) are not provided with reports, so cannot monitor school finances and play an oversight role.
The School Finance Tracker (SFT) addresses this by providing a simple tool that can be used by school financial staff to capture income and expenses and provide monthly reports to SMTs and SGBs which enable them to carry out their functions and operate effectively.
The SFT is based on the following five principles.
- All school income and expenses are captured and logged against defined codes regularly.
- Logged income and expense data is used to generate monthly reports which are used by school management and the governing body to check the financial status of the school.
- Annual statements based on monthly statements are prepared to report on the financial status of the school and shared with parents and stakeholders.
- Annual budgets based on actual logged income and expense data and projections are prepared.
- Effective systems are in place to track actual income and expenditure against budgeted income and expenses and where there are deviations remedial action is taken to maintain the financial sustainability of the school.
The School Finance Tracker tool and a short course on its application are available. Contact us for more information.