finance

Finance 

Our finance offer is bespoke, the approach you will receive is not cookie-cutter. We appreciate each school’s uniqueness:

  • Individual bank accounts and limits
  • Local control – you process your own orders, invoices, BACs runs
  • Autonomy to create bespoke structures within the systems
  • Ongoing support, tailored to individual staff needs 

Budgetary control happens WITH our schools. The trust serves nursery through to 16-19 and can leverage vast experience of education budgets and will support the school throughout the process:

  • Scenario modelling
  • Multi-year budget setting and revisions
  • DfE budget returns
  • Salary modelling

Central support and expertise allow headteachers. SLT and finance staff in schools more time to focus on their core responsibilities. We will work with you, but where it is complex, we can take the angst away. 

  • Assets and capital projects
  • VAT submissions
  • Finance cover
  • Grant applications

Systems and controls are simply exemplary. Our statutory reporting record indicates the strength of our internal controls and the standards we set for ourselves.

  • Established software for finance and payroll
  • Documented policies and procedures
  • Monthly central finance scrutiny

Group security comes from being within an extremely high standards of control, within our family of schools. We strategically plan for the good and the harder times and provide reassurance that the school continues to operate in potential unforeseen circumstances.

  • Our reserves policy allows us to make the correct decisions for the long term while supporting schools through short term challenges
  • Be this finance or personnel, the Trust will do everything to make sure you do not fall but we will be ready to catch you if this happens

Statutory reporting can be incredibly intricate and time consuming, it needs to be, this is public money and we are held to a very high level of accountability for it. We have a superb record of working with external auditors, you only have to look at our accounts or Companies House for evidence of that. We are a very strong team with different backgrounds covering specific education budgeting, corporate management accounting, financial statements experience and we are willing and able to take the strain.

  • External audit
  • Internal scrutiny
  • Pensions
  • Funding returns

We simply do not see this as a transactional relationship. When you join the Cranmer Education Trust it is not an agreement with an external provider, but becoming part of an organisation so that we can excel together.