We sincerely thank schools for participating in the Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) which — with about 700 schools — is the largest in Australia and New Zealand, and trust that the reports help schools with their financial sustainability.
The FSS provides school owners, governors, principals, and business managers with simple, factual trend and comparative financial information to identify changing circumstances plus areas that will have the greatest impact on improved financial performance. This helps to adapt to changing circumstances, govern with confidence, and reduce financial worries.
Continuous improvement
There are some exciting improvements to the reports this year including additional boarding ratios, enrolment churn (students leaving / total enrolments) which appears to average about 7%, and extra guidance concerning the importance of school culture and board training. I enjoy continually improving the reports as I learn more about school financial sustainability from my research.
Access to FSS Reports
Please log into the Somerset Portal and then:
- Accept updated Terms and Conditions (if required)
- Select a sample of similar schools
- Generate your reports.
20-minute ‘crash course’ video to help you read and analyse FSS reports
I have prepared a short video to help you analyse of your school’s FSS reports. The great thing about this video is that you can ‘pause’ or ‘replay’ as you view your reports. Hope you find this useful. Here’s the video link.
We welcome your participation
To date almost 500 schools have logged in to populate the survey. So if you haven’t yet completed it we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. And don’t forget you can enter/change data and re-generate reports at any time until April 2023.
Special Early Bird participation offer!
Early Bird* participation starts from A$680 (plus GST) per school (half price for schools < 200 enrolments)
*Early Bird price—Survey completed and invoice requested prior to 30 September 2022.
Any questions?
If you have any questions in relation to the survey please contact Cathryn, our survey administrator at survey@somerseteducation.net or telephone 1300 781 968 (from outside Australia +61 7 3263 5300). To assist you with accessing the Portal, here are the step-by-step instructions: Navigating the Somerset Education Portal.
If I can help in any way with the financial governance of your school, please contact me at john@somerseteducation.net or mobile 0417 618 899.
We look forward to your ongoing support, or if new to the survey, we warmly welcome you joining in.
Kindest regards
John Somerset is a Chartered Accountant. He has extensive knowledge of the independent school sector and is past President of Independent Schools Queensland and a past board member of the Independent Schools Australia.
UPCOMING EVENTS 2022:
ABSA NSW—Webinar, How to use the school budget to influence people, Tuesday 04 October.
CEBA 2022 Conference—Trade stand, 05-07 October, Melbourne & Olympic Parks precinct, Melbourne, Victoria.
Somerset Education Breakfast Seminar Series—Webinar, Unleash the power of the FSS, Wednesday 12 October (7am-8am).
CSA National Business Conference—Workshop Presenter, 26-28 October, Mantra on Salt Beach, Kingscliff, NSW.
Disclaimer: We publish this article only for non-government schools in Australia. All material should be regarded as information only and individuals should rely on their own enquiries when formulating decisions for themselves or their clients. In no way do we warrant or guarantee any changed circumstances for a school from use or non-use of this material. As a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, the firm participates in a national liability capping scheme. Accordingly, our liability is limited by a scheme approved under professional standards.
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