Governance crucial for Academy Trusts

The importance of robust governance for academies was the key focus at a recent Bishop Fleming Academies Conference, attended by over 200 Academy professionals working in the education sector.

Together with keynote speakers and expert panelists, the sell-out conference discussed best practice and financial strategies for academy schools.

Whilst the sector is dealing with funding problems in the face of a long-awaited public spending review, which has been further delayed by Brexit uncertainties, academies are adopting strategies to secure their future, including diversifying income and improving their risk management processes.

Bishop Fleming Audit Partner and Head of Education, Pam Tuckett, explained that academy professionals have to come together to share best practice over issues such as: making sure they have the right management information to be able to make informed decisions, and that the management team has the right skills to make those decisions and knows how to manage risks.

Pam commented: “Our conference enabled us to show academy clients what best practice is in running a school’s finances and governance structures, and allowed them to share ideas and network with other professionals in the sector.”

She added: “It is clear that delegates found the conference extremely useful, as 100% of them said they would definitely attend our next event.”

Bishop Fleming currently audits £1.5 billion of income for the Academy sector, working with around 200 Academy Trusts, with more than 875 schools.

The firm is also the lead author of the Kreston-sponsored annual Academies Benchmark Report, which is the leading independent report on the financial state of the country’s Academy schools.

The firm has appeared in the ‘The Sunday Times Best 100 companies to Work For’ for the past four years, and has a Gold status award from the independent customer services agency, Investor in Customers, for its ‘exceptional’ service to its clients.