How to interrogate a finance report

Last reviewed on 1 December 2021
School types: Maintained, Special, Academy · School phases: Primary, Secondary
Ref: 4186

Read our step-by-step guide to monitoring the finance report so you're clear on what the numbers mean, what to look out for and what questions to ask your school business manager in your finance committee meeting.

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Contents

  1. What's a finance report and what should it include?
  2. What to look for
  3. Example finance report: budget overview
  4. How to interrogate
  5. Approving budget amendments (virements)
  6. Approving invoices and orders
  7. Forward projection
  8. Next: scrutinise the budget

What's a finance report and what should it include?

As a governor, it's your job to keep a close eye on your school's finances, including monitoring the school budget during the year.

The finance report, which you'll receive from your SBM before each finance committee meeting, should:

  • Have an overview of the budget to date - i.e. the 'headline figures' of all the money your school has received and spent at the time of the report 
  • Summarise the key changes since the last meeting
  • Come with commentary to explain things such as:
    • Whether something has changed since the last meeting and why 
    • Whether these changes were foreseeable
    • What the consequences of the changes are

The budget, on the other hand, shows all of your school's finances to date in detail with no explanations.

What the budget was at the start of your school's financial year (April for maintained schools and September for academies) Expenditure to date How much money your school has

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