How to manage finances

Not only do SBMs have to look after projects, implement school improvements, manage risks and physical resources, they also must manage finances. Amongst a great deal of other things, managing money and resources can be a tough challenge.

The role of an SBM

SBMs must ensure the school makes the best possible use of resources through effective planning and considering all financial and other resource implications. In terms of finances, SBMs will regularly have to obtain the agreement of budgets and monitor them against accounts

Budget monitoring and reporting

Budget monitoring involves examining monthly monitoring reports and taking action to fight inconsistencies. Money on individual projects should be tracked so the school can assess their costs and effectiveness against the criteria in the school improvement plan. Budget monitoring is a useful starting point when setting your budget for the following year.

Why are budget monitoring and reporting important?

Regular monitoring and reporting of income and expenditure against the set budget is key to effective financial management. It helps the governors and senior leadership teams, as well as SBMs, to control the finances by reviewing the current position of the school and taking action to improve when needed. Another useful aspect is that it can make budget holders accountable, this applies to both devolved budgets within the school and for resources that need to be used.

Personal finance organisation

SBMs need to allow time to focus on organising their finances to ensure they don’t become swamped at home. SBMs spend a big portion of their time organising their school's finances that it is easy to forget their own or simply don’t want to.

There are simple, small steps that you can take to ensure you keep your personal finances in order. These are:

• Create a budget- base it off on your household income and expenses per month.
• Prioritise any debts- pay everything on time and pay off the highest debt you may have in time to relieve financial stress.
• Be organised with your paperwork- keep receipts stored away in a confidential storage space, such as a filing cabinet.
• Be prepared for the worst-case scenario- have some money that you can have to hand, whether in your account or cash, just in case as you never know what can happen.

Disposing of old receipts and storing ones to keep

The main way to ensure you dispose of confidential receipts effectively is to shred them using an office paper shredder. There are other ways if shredding isn’t possible, such as: burning them, soaking them in water for 24 hours, hand-shredding and using multi-scissors. After using these methods, throw away in general waste as most receipts aren’t recyclable due to being on thermal paper.

There are multiple ways to store your receipts and other important paperwork. The best ways are:

• using a filing cabinet with colourful binders. You can colour coordinate and label them to easily locate important paperwork and your receipts.
• use desk storage equipment to store receipts and other important paperwork. Make sure to have something secure for confidential information such as these profile education filing modules  For less sensitive paperwork or receipts you can use a desk surface organiser.

Resources and support tools for SBMs

ICFP is a management process to help schools plan the best curriculum based on what funding they have. This involves measuring data from your current curriculum, staffing structures and finances to create a three-to-five-year plan. Many aspects can be included within this and the more that is used the more accurate predictions for resources, you can afford, will be.

There are common steps that need to be taken to do a good ICFP that will benefit the school in the best way for the long-term future. These are Prepare, Analyse and Plan. Doing these steps helps balance the relationship between the amount of teaching time needed to run the set timetables, the number of time teachers spend teaching, the cost of employing teachers etc.

Using ICFP tools and strategies will help to achieve financial stability and sustainability as well as allowing schools to deliver the best curriculum they can afford.

For more information on ICFP and useful tools to help you use this management process follow the links below:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/integrated-curriculum-and-financial-planning-icfp

https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/

https://www.oneeducation.co.uk/school-business-management/school-finance