What's a finance report and what should it include?
As a governor, it's your job to keep a close eye on finances, including monitoring the school budget during the year.
You'll likely receive a finance report from your SBM before finance committee meetings.
There are no statutory requirements
However, the report should:
- Be clear, concise and up to date
- Have an overview of the budget to date – i.e. the 'headline figures' of all the money the 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 why there have been changes since the last meeting, the consequences, and the suggested action to take
The budget, on the other hand, shows all of the 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,