Finding the right financial management solution for your school districts needs

Managing school district finances effectively requires a complicated series of day-to-day, monthly, and annual tasks. From creating and balancing budgets, to managing contracts, paying vendors, and maintaining assets, all functions are geared toward aligning desired student outcomes with available resources.

Maintaining a well-performing K-12 school system that meets 21st century needs with limited resources requires effective financial management. Further, rigorous financial management requires stringent efficiency and accountability, but if you are using an off the shelf financial cloud management platform not specifically designed for schools, how can you be sure you are getting value for money?

What is accounting software?

According to a report by Fortune Business Insights, the accounting software market will expand to $416.23 million by 2024.

Accounting software (or financial management software) is a tool to help you manage and keep track of your schools’, boards,’ or district’s money while also having access to examine your financial condition quickly and easily. Further, you can record transactions, generate reports, manage staff and vendor contacts, create purchase orders, and monitor your budget.

The software can create a variety of reports and financial statements, including statement of financial position, cash flow, income statements, vendor reports and more which are necessary for managing your school district finances. You can also compare transaction activity or statements from prior months and years to your current ones, which can help you analyze your school districts trends, and other key metrics that you need to make informed business decisions in the best interest of students.

You can use financial management cloud software to categorize account payables and schedule and pay bills, whether you pay by EFT, or by cheque. This will help you keep track of those transactions and manage your cash flow.

Why is it important to consider?

Challenging times sometimes necessitate a methodical approach. School finances are closely tied to both public policy and student achievement. School funding is a concern in the current climate of economic uncertainty. With per-student allocations and revenue-raising tax system fluctuations, it is necessary to keep pace with decisions affecting school funding. Declines in enrollment and revenue alongside aging facilities strain school districts to operate more efficiently.

Benefits

Efficiency. Like most digital tools, accounting software allows you to automate tasks and enter data faster. MineralTree reports that those who use accounts payable automation software save an average of one hour per day.

Collaborate. In addition to a decrease in errors, it can increase collaboration between different departments by keeping all your financial information in one space. As well, financial management software can assist with keeping your finances organized, keeping schools and boards compliant with local, provincial, and federal tax laws, which helps to avoid issues with CRA.

Save Money. Saving money is critical for school districts and districts. Research shows that using cloud computing for your accounting can reduce costs for by up to 50% and accounts payable automation software can save schools $16 or more per invoice.

Edsembli | FIN

Edsembli | FIN offers clients seamless communication with systems and schools and can eliminate the need for third party integrations with our all-in-one ecosystem that enhances data connectivity across key departments, maximizes visibility, and can improve operational efficiency.

Other Benefits include:

• Extract vital financial information in seconds, while also producing meaningful visualizations, detailed purchase order, invoices, and customized reports.
• Identify and evaluate your current financial management processes with a comprehensive exam designed by our Edsembli financial specialists.
• Through our Expense Claim Management Module, clients can create customized business rules for education, enhance auditing capabilities, automatically push data to your general ledger, and speed up approval visibility, processing, and payments.

The above answers will strongly influence how you can communicate in a particular situation—good or bad.

Open dialogue about the challenges and opportunities should hold you in good stead, allowing you to sell the benefits of the change, demonstrate that you are aware that there may be negative elements that you have given thought to and how they will be managed, ultimately resulting in the change moving forward.

Once a final decision has been reached, an implementation plan should be clearly communicated to your administration, teaching staff, as well as parents, suppliers, and should also include timetabling, responsibilities, impacts and contact people in the event of any issues.

Technology that Works for You

Almost 75% of accounting tasks can be automated with cloud accounting software. Despite those stats, the reason for the slow migration of innovative trends in schools is obvious. Hardware and software cost money, and so does the dedicated IT staff needed to maintain it. These expenses far outpace traditional expenditures on pencils, protractors, and paper. Yet, school financial crunches should not prevent school districts from using the latest tools available to forecast budgets and track spending.

If your schools are performing accounting practices the old-fashioned way, it is time to investigate financial software cloud solutions that can save time, resources—and ultimately dollars. The considerable return on investment from automation simply cannot be underestimated. Contact an Edsembli specialist today and book a demo to uncover how Edsembli | FIN can provide tangible benefits to your accounting needs.