Can I use ICFP metrics as KPIs?

The Academy Trust Handbook used to mandate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as an element of monthly management accounts; this was removed from the 2023 edition onwards. However, the KPIs were one of the more accessible ways for trustees to keep track of finances of the trust and so many trusts still incorporate KPIs in their monthly management accounts.

So, what might a trust choose to track in their KPIs?

Some trusts look at balance sheet figures such as the current ratio or their working capital, both of which look at the relationship between current assets and current liabilities.

Trusts also at total costs like the total income and total expenditure and in-year and cumulative balances.

However, metrics we use in integrated curriculum financial planning (ICFP) add additional levels of insight. When exploring the KPIs trustees should look at:

How the metrics change and what affects those changes?
What are the target metric levels for the trust.

Some trusts include the RAG rating of the metrics within the management accounts which can also be very helpful.

We would advise that trust executive staff discuss with trustees which key performance indicators they wish to see, but would also strongly advise that these contain some of the ICFP metrics.

For more information, or to book an ICFP.school demo, please do contact us at office@tsoeducation.co.uk.

Does ICFP work for special schools?

The challenge of using integrated curriculum and financial planning with special schools is the diversity of the schools. Different special schools focus on a different range of needs. The SEN Code of Practice (2015) divides SEND into four categories:

Communication and interaction
Cognition and learning
Social, emotional and mental health
Sensory and/or physical needs

Not only do special schools contain a different mix of these categories, but many pupils have complex needs that do not fit conveniently within only one of these categories.

Added to this the make up of any special school will change over time as the individuals that make up the school’s cohort changes and so the range of needs changes.

And a further complexity still arises from the particular funding methodology that is used by the Local Authority (LA) that the school is within; and further the mix of LAs that they take their pupils from.

This is not to say that a specialist school or special needs trust would not gain any value from an integrated curriculum and financial planning approach to an analysis of their finances. The key process, however, needs to be around understanding why the school varies from the norm referenced metrics, whether the school or trust are comfortable with this deviation in the metrics and whether the overall position reveals a balanced income and expenditure position.

At ICFP.school we are very keen to find ways to improve our analysis and so are keen to hear from providers of SEND education about how we can improve the ICFP.school dashboard and make it more useful for SEND establishments.

Do please get in touch at office@tsoeducation.co.uk and let us know what you think of our current dashboard and to tell us what else you would like to be added.

ICFP.school update!

ICFP.school goes live this Friday.

See what people are saying:

‘Love the simplicity of the system. Will make it very attractive to those who don’t want to use data driven spreadsheets.’

-Finance Lead in a large local authority.

The feedback from experienced users of ICFP is that it is easy to use and the advice about how to address any inefficiencies is clear and precise.

Contact us if you would like to find out more: office@tsoeducation.co.uk

One Week To Go!

One week to go until the launch of our online ICFP tool.

A fully interactive online dashboard that allows you to look at all your ICFP scenarios in one place rather than fiddling about with different spreadsheets.

The feedback from experienced users of ICFP is that it is easy to use and the advice about how to address any inefficiencies is clear and precise.

Contact us if you would like to find out more: office@tsoeducation.co.uk

Our ICFP tool launch date has been announced!

Our online ICFP tool is being launched next Friday, 1st November.

The tool will help you keep all the ICFP scenarios in one place for your school and

allows you to track the impact that changes to your curriculum and staffing may have on your overall efficiency.

Please contact office@tsoeducation.co.uk for more information.

ICFP.school Testing Feedback

We have received some excellent feedback from the individuals currently testing our online ICFP tool, which will be available for schools, trusts and Local Authorities to purchase a license later this term.

“First thoughts are a lovely platform – that’s easy to use.” – (CFO of a mixed phase Multi-Academy Trust)

“Love the simplicity of the system. Will make it very attractive to those who don’t want to use data driven spreadsheets.” – (Finance Manager of a large Local Authority)

“I like the dashboard presentation, simple to use and simple to drill down for further information.” – (Local Authority Finance Lead)

“I enjoyed the look and feel of the site. Clean and very much better than the other tools and far better for analysis of each year.” – (Experienced CFO and SRMA)

We are really looking forward to launching this dashboard for all schools. Follow us for more updates.

Introducing ICFP.school – our online Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning tool

We are really pleased to announce that we are in the final stages of testing our online Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning tool, ICFP.school.

The idea behind the tool is to make the completion of an ICFP review of a school or trust as easy as possible by:

Pre-populating previous years with publicly available data
Ensuring that the requirements for data entry are minimised
Clear input of curriculum data to avoid errors

The system has been developed and tested by our team of SRMAs (School Resource Management Advisers) and includes advice about how to address the issues identified. Schools can use this system to complete the analysis, but then can use the system to identify how to improve efficiency.

All users of the system who wish to will be able to book a meeting to discuss their analysis with an accredited School Resource Management Adviser.

If you are interested in being part of our Beta testing then please send us a message. Or we expect to launch the commercial version of the online tool in late October.

About our SRMA accreditation

The consultants at TSO Education are specialists in both Education Leadership and Education Finance. Most of our consultants are accredited School Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs) – currently we have nine SRMAs signed up as consultants (including our two directors). To ensure they have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to undertake the role they have all passed an independent accreditation panel. As part of the ISBL SRMA team, our highly skilled consultants are able to provide high levels of support and insight.

All our consultants have held senior posts in schools, academies and MATs. With a wide range of experience and knowledge our consultants support our clients by providing evidence-based recommendations, promote and share best practice on managing resources across maintained schools and academy trusts, identify opportunities where schools and trusts can improve efficiency/increase their revenue generation and support schools and trusts to strengthen their governance and oversight of their finances.

Contact us for more information on how our services can be beneficial to you and your school, trust or local authority.

Managing your School Estate

Capital advisers programme – Pilot Evaluation

A report evaluating the pilot programme to support trusts to strategically manage their estates and make the best use of their capital funding.

The Pilot, which ran from March to July 2021, gaged if, and in what circumstance, an assessment by capital advisers could help multi-academy trusts (MATs) manage their estates and make the most use of their school condition allocations (SCA). A sample of 20 trusts who receive SCA were selected, ensuring variety in geographical spread and trust sizes, to participate in the Capital Advisers Programme (CAP) pilot.

Responses at the end of the pilot were mostly positive with no negative feedback, with trusts indicating “it helped with estates strategy planning, providing assurance and was beneficial for new/growing trusts…”.

Subsequent to the success of the SRMA pilot, the focus of CAP has been on the support and capability building pillars of the SRMA programme. A wider rollout of the CAP programme, which promotes best practice in line with GEMS could be advantageous for trusts.

“CAP will be expanded in the 2022/23 academic year as the pilot demonstrated significant potential to support schools. The department is continually improving its offer to schools, including industry-leading practice and tools in GEMS. This will help schools achieve safe, well-maintained buildings, helping to support world-class teaching and learning.”

The full pilot evaluation report is now available of gov.uk website. Click here for quick access.

Help with producing your three year budget?

One of our directors presented to the SRMA National Conference and the ISBL Fellows about budget assumptions. This presentation has now been recorded by GovNet and is available here:

https://vimeo.com/694894730?signup=true