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Single academies we support...

Finance services for single academies

Navigating academy finance isn’t easy – let us guide you.

We’ve shared our expertise with the education finance sector for over 12 years. Let us help you navigate the complex world of academy finance with smart solutions that will help you improve efficiency, streamline processes, and gain confidence in your school's budget and decision-making. We support all types of education establishments - from mainstream to special and private schools.

Whether you need support with budget planning and submissions or interim cover and strategic planning, we offer tailored support to suit your needs - so you can focus on educational excellence and pupil care.

  • Strategic, operational & transactional support
  • Month-end & control accounts
  • External year-end
  • Financial controls
  • Bank reconciliations
  • External audit preparation 
  • ESFA, DfE & LA returns and submissions
  • Interim finance support
  • Fully outsourced service
  • Budgeting & medium-term forecasting
  • Deficit planning & recovery
  • VAT claims & reconciliations
  • MAT set-up & expansion
  • Financial due diligence
  • GAG pooling
  • Technical support - software, add location & workflow reconfiguration
  • Bespoke training, including training on finance software
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Smart finance solutions for your academy

We understand the complex world of education finance and work with you to plan, strategise, and budget in the most cost-effective way – aligning with your finance policy, operational, and strategic goals.

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Unlimited support with all your finance, accounting, and technical queries. Available from 8am-8pm, 7 days a week.

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Whether you need support with finance software, add location, or workflow configuration, our technical finance team is here to help.

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We offer a cloud-hosting solution designed for schools, academies and MATs. Unlike other cloud platforms, SAAF Cloud isn’t restricted to a specific software provider – meaning there are no limitations on how you use it.

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Our experts can run comprehensive and bespoke training on any topic within education finance. We can host sessions on all leading finance software used in the education sector, including IRIS Financials and FMS.

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Our education finance specialists work independently with trusts to provide comprehensive assurance that internal controls and risk management procedures are operating effectively and efficiently.

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Features of our support

Unrivalled expertise in school & academy finance  

Highly trained in all leading education finance software 

Supporting schools, academies & MATs for over 12 years

Helpdesk support
available 7 days a week 

Helping you meet your statutory financial requirements

Accredited support & training partner of IRIS Financials

Bespoke solutions to meet your academy's needs

Audit preparation support

Strategic financial planning

The education finance landscape is ever-changing - we can work with you to strategically plan ahead and mitigate risk.  

Get guidance and advice on annual budget setting, medium-term financial planning, establishing an efficient finance function, and financial recovery. 

  • Annual budget setting & monitoring
  • Costing of the School Improvement Plan & curriculum
  • Budget reforecasting
  • Development of a three-year financial plan & deficit recovery
  • ‘What if’ scenario planning
  • Cash flow forecast 
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Trust expansion

If you're expanding your trust, we can help. We provide consultancy, training, helpdesk, and technical support to guide you every step of the way as additional schools or trusts join your institution. 

Example areas of support: 

  • Training, consultancy & technical support for your finance team
  • Finance & budget software support
  • Cloud hosting
  • Add location
  • Workflow reconfiguration
  • Bank account setup
  • GAG pooling assistance
  • External audit preparation
  • Finance Helpdesk – open 7 days a week, for all your finance, accounting & software queries  
Contact us

Finance Helpdesk

Unlimited support with all your finance, software & accounting queries

You have a question – we have the answer.

Benefit from unlimited support with all your finance, accounting, and technical queries - open 8 am - 8 pm, 7 days a week.

Our expert helpdesk team will act as an extension to your finance division, supporting a variety of queries, from accounting and procurement to finance software.

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Supporting schools for 12+ years
100+ years of combined education
finance knowledge
100% customer satisfaction

Outsourced finance support

Ensuring business continuity

Do you have a role you need to outsource? Our consultants can step in and take on short- and long-term finance roles, including chief financial officer, finance manager, finance officer - alongside covering all transactional support duties. 

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Platinum IRIS Financials partner!

We’re a platinum-accredited training and support partner of IRIS Financials - supporting all versions of the software! 

What our academy clients say about us

The team have been a great support at a time of staff shortages. They quickly picked up our systems and processes and worked with us to improve them to keep business continuity, just what we needed and we are still working with SAAF, one year on.

Business Manager, The Misbourne

The team at SAAF were invaluable to us when we employed their services as we moved through a period of transition, so much so that, at the end of the transition we felt we could not dispense with these services and now SAAF form an extension to our in-house finance department. Nothing is ever too much trouble and the responses are swift, accurate and robust. I could not imagine working without their support now.

CFO, The McAuley Catholic High School

Thank you so much for your ongoing support; SAAF have been a life saver for us!

Business Manager, Idsall School

SAAF have been an invaluable support during my first few months at Southend High School for Boys. I am new to IRIS/PS Financials and the team at SAAF have been very patient, explaining how the software works. The service is always very responsive, and their knowledge of IRIS/PS Financials and school finance is excellent.

Finance Manager, Southend High School for Boys

SAAF staff are so friendly and helpful: quickly resolving queries/issues very competently

Finance Officer, Burntwood School

Book your free finance system review

Our finance system reviews are delivered independently by our expert finance team. We review system architecture and security - providing a full check of key areas to help improve the effectiveness of your software.

Book your review

Bespoke training

You've come to the right place for comprehensive training in any area of school and academy finance! We offer customised training for school business managers, whether you need help with software or support to meet a finance deadline.

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Frequently asked questions

What can you support with?

How do you effectively manage school & academy finances?

What finance & budgeting software can you support with?

Do you offer a discount on consultancy days purchased?

When can you start working us?

Can you visit onsite?

Keep up to date with our expert finance resources

BLOG

New Academy Trust Governance Guide

CASE STUDY

Discover how we transformed LIFE Education Trust's financial management

On-demand Training

Finding the Best Finance System for Your School - video training

Cover all bases

Save time, money and resources with our range of cost-effective school business support services

Payroll & HR

Say goodbye to time-consuming processes and the administrative burden of payroll. Say hello to SAAF’s cost-effective, efficient, and accurate payroll bureau.

School Recruitment Support

How many recruitment agencies can say they’ve never charged a temp-to-perm recruitment fee? We understand that recruitment costs can be expensive, that’s why we also offer fixed margins.

Finance Helpdesk

Unlimited support with all your finance, accounting, and technical queries. Available from 8am-8pm, 7 days a week.

Let's talk

Contact us today to find out more about our finance support services.
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