Financial Management
Case study: Bradford Girls’ Grammar School
Accepting card payments can bring many benefits, as a Yorkshire-based school has discovered
Bradford Girls’ Grammar School is an independent school for girls and a Centre of Excellence in the development of women leaders. Based in the north of England, it has more than 400 pupils aged from 2-to-18 years old. With a history dating back more than 130 years, it prides itself on encouraging girls to study traditionally male-orientated subjects, such as science, engineering and design and technology.
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Are schools more enterprising than three years ago?
The impact of changing government policy on school leaders can be seen when comparing the top ten finance issues in schools in February 2008 and 2011, says Catherine Allan
In 2008, school leaders were concerned with compliance and meeting standards. Now the Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS) has gone, after it was scrapped in 2010, and in its place schools are looking for alternative reporting templates.
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Cheque mate
Does your school accept cheques guaranteed with a plastic card? If the answer is “yes” now’s the time to get ready for next summer when the UK’s Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme is being withdrawn
For the past forty years, schools have had the option of accepting a cheque with a guarantee (up to a value limit) if it was accompanied by a customer’s card carrying Shakespeare’s logo. Although many schools no longer make use of this functionality when accepting cheques, if you are one of the schools that does, you should be aware that it’s being withdrawn from the 30 June 2011. You may want to know what alternatives exist and why the decision was taken – even though after this date you can still accept cheques – just not guaranteed with a card.
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Book review
Performance Management in Schools
By Susan Tranter and Adrian Percival
ISBN 9781405812375
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Home rule
Now is the perfect time for an internal audit. Clive Malcolm outlines the potential risks facing schools over the coming months and explains the pitfalls of not carrying out an internal review
The credit crunch is starting to bite throughout the economy and schools will not be exempt from its effect. Lower pupil numbers for some schools mean that it will be harder for them to cover fixed costs.
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Banking on change?
How can schools get the best value from their bank accounts?
All banks cater for business customers; some will have specialist expertise in providing services to educational establishments, but each school is different – as of course is each bank.
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The school's lynchpin
Bursars are making a big difference to the financial management of secondary schools
Anita Evans joined Lafford High School in 1998, initially as senior school secretary. She took on other responsibilities to become the school administrator. Yet, after a series of changes in headteacher and senior managers, she was promoted to the position of bursar two years ago and was asked to join the senior management team.
The school, although small (257 on roll), is expanding rapidly. To cope with the new and growing responsibilities, Anita enrolled on the Certificate of School Business Management (CSBM) course.
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Making a little go a long way
Many headteachers lack confidence in managing a school's finances, yet do not have the budget available to employ a full-time financial assistant. A shared bursar could prove invaluable in filling this role
Not all schools have budgets that would stretch to employing a bursar, or feel comfortable with the idea of speculating that an effective bursar would save or attract enough funding to cover their own expenses. However, groups of schools are circumventing these concerns by sharing personnel to fulfil the role.
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