What MAT CEOs need to know about finance and cloud software

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Summary

The Department for Education's CEO Content Framework sets out what multi-academy trust CEOs are expected to know about finance, including understanding the advantages of cloud-based systems. As Accounting Officer, the CEO carries personal responsibility for the trust's finances, even where day-to-day work is delegated to a CFO. Meeting the framework's expectations on timely consolidated accounts, forecasting and purchase-order controls is difficult on legacy, on-premises systems, which is why cloud accounting software has moved from a nice-to-have to an expectation.

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The short version

The CEO of a multi-academy trust is the named Accounting Officer, personally responsible for the trust's finances.
The framework explicitly expects CEOs to understand cloud-based systems, not just finance.
On-premises software makes several of the framework's own expectations hard to meet.
Almost half of MAT CFOs already rate their finance software as inadequate.

Multi-academy trust CEOs now have a government framework spelling out exactly what they're expected to know about finance – and it explicitly includes understanding the advantages of cloud-based systems.

In a short period of time, knowledge of IT and finance software has gone from being an operational detail to a leadership competency.

This article sets out what the government’s content framework for MAT CEOs says about finance and IT and why cloud accounting is increasingly central to meeting its expectations.

What does the government expect MAT CEOs to know about finance?

The government’s document Multi-Academy Trust Leadership Development: Chief Executive Officer Content Framework sets out seven principles CEOs must understand under finance. These cover personal accountability, the need for a professional finance team, statutory audited accounts, long-term financial planning, integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) and value for money.

The seven principles are these:

The CEO is defined as the Accounting Officer in the Academy Trust Handbook
The CEO is responsible for ensuring funding is used effectively and efficiently in the public interest
Finance is critically important and trusts need a professional finance team. Effective CEOs understand the expertise required of a strong CFO and the need for strong working relationships between the CEO, CFO and trustees
Trusts must produce annual audited accounts and adhere to the Academies Financial Handbook as a condition of their funding agreement
Strong trusts are built on effective and long-term planning, including financial planning, optimal use of resources, risk management and appropriate centralised functions
Integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) provides metrics to help ensure staffing and resources are used within “sensible parameters”, which include money spent on staffing
CEOs, alongside trustees and, where applicable, local governors, must make sure resources meet pupils’ needs and achieve value for money.

What does the government say CEOs should actually do about finance?

Alongside the principles, the framework sets out how CEOs should apply them in practice. They should:

Ensure the CFO and finance staff are appropriately qualified or experienced. This includes supporting the CFO in professional development and accessing supporting expertise within the trust or externally.
Ensure finances comply with legal requirements. This includes producing accounts correctly and scrutinising the finances regularly throughout the year.
Ensure sound financial management systems are in place. This includes embedding an annual financial planning cycle; ensuring plans are based on accurate pupil projections; understanding the importance of approximate top-down calculations to set the parameters of a budget; understanding the importance of estimation; identifying key months for forecasting; ensuring timely, detailed, consolidated management accounts are in place; and understanding the importance of reserves management.
Direct the trust’s activities to achieve the most efficient and sustainable provision of education to the highest quality. This includes embedding ICPF; having a five-year capital and reserve budget, reviewed at least annually; considering how spending and staffing decisions compare with similar schools and trusts; achieving a balance between staffing and non-staffing costs; and considering shared central services for economies of scale.
Standardise and optimise (and centralise where appropriate) services including finance. This includes considering the extent to which services should be centralised, and in which order.
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Why does the framework specifically mention cloud-based systems?

IT risk increases as systems age – and timely consolidated accounts, accurate forecasting and robust purchase-order controls are difficult to achieve on legacy systems. The framework explicitly asks CEOs to understand the advantages of cloud-based systems and data centres for managing risk and maximising efficiency.

On-premises software, still common across the sector, makes it difficult to pull information together across sites in the same trust or to get timely information. iplicit's own 2023 research found almost half the CFOs in existing MATs thought their software wasn't up to standard. Requirements such as a "robust purchase order system" with proper authorisation controls are considerably easier to meet with the automation built into modern cloud systems than with legacy software.

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How iplicit for Education can help

Cloud accounting systems can help MATs streamline their finance processes, save large amounts of admin time and produce real-time data for every academy in the trust. At Active Learning Trust, iplicit for Education's reporting and analysis tools helped the MAT review staff costs and structures, resulting in a £300,000 saving on supply staff. At Excalibur Academies Trust, bank reconciliation now takes one week instead of three, with 1,600 invoices approved monthly through online workflows. Janet Brandon, Head of Financial Planning and analysis, says: “The data we’re forecasting from is a lot more accurate than it was before."

The obligation is personal

Cloud literacy is listed alongside audited accounts and value for money as something a CEO is personally expected to understand. Trusts using legacy, on-premises systems will find the requirements for consolidated reporting, forecasting and purchase-order control increasingly hard to satisfy as trusts grow and scrutiny increases.

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Learn more about [how iplicit's finance software helps multi-academy trusts.

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What is the CEO Content Framework for multi-academy trusts?

It's Department for Education guidance published in 2023 that sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of CEOs leading larger multi-academy trusts. It covers education quality, school improvement, workforce, governance and finance, and forms the basis of a professional development programme for current and aspiring CEOs.

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Why does the government want MAT CEOs to understand cloud-based finance systems?

Because the framework explicitly links IT risk to system age and because trusts are expected to produce timely consolidated accounts, accurate forecasts and robust purchase-order controls. On-premises systems make it harder to pull consolidated information from multiple sites quickly, which is precisely what the framework expects CEOs to be able to deliver.

Can on-premises finance software meet the government's expectations for MAT financial management?

It's difficult. On-premises systems generally can't consolidate data across multiple sites in real time, which makes timely accounts, accurate forecasting and centralised purchase order controls harder to achieve consistently. Cloud-based systems are built to consolidate multi-site data as a core function.

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