Breakfast Summit Series: Unleash the Power of the Financial Survey for Schools

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Presented by: John Somerset, FCA, Director, Somerset Education, Australia

Webinar on Wednesday, 30 March 2022, 7:00am—8:00am (AEST)

Our challenge – how can we clearly and simply present financial information to the Board and Principal so that everyone understands the school’s past, present and proposed future financial health to better inform decisions being made now?

I received several calls in the past month seeking information like: “How many staff, by category, should I have for the size of my school?”, I could answer this in 30 seconds using the Staff Estimator on the Somerset Education Financial Survey for Schools Portal. Another question was: “How can I increase my operating surplus to adequately fund the extra debt taken on this year due to reinvestment in buildings?” Again, the FSS could answer this in about 1 minute. You can easily do this yourself. I realised we needed a training session to demonstrate how to unleash the power in the FSS.

In this workshop, you will learn how to maximise use of the Somerset Education Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) to clearly present the school’s financial and operational strengths and weaknesses, so the Board and Principal understand the financial risks and can take appropriate action to manage the risks.

In this 60-minute session we will cover:

  • Attributes of a financially sustainable school including a simple explanation for the Board and Principal
  • Navigating the Somerset FSS portal including an overview of the tools
  • Selecting an appropriate sample of schools with which to compare your school’s performance
  • Using the Historical Report to highlight important trends in your school’s performance
  • Using the Comparative Report to identify and quantify strengths and weaknesses
  • Using the Vertical Analysis to graph sample distributions for all 60 + ratios
  • Using the Staff Estimator to indicate number of staff, by category, for the average school of your size
  • Use the Somerset Key Indicator (SKI) Report to assess future financial health
  • New tools under development (Scenario SKI Report) – we welcome your feedback.

About the Presenter:
John Somerset FCADirector, Somerset Education
John’s passion is financial viability and sustainability of non-government schools. He has 36 years Chartered Accounting experience, with 26 years specialising in schools including past President of Independent Schools Queensland and a past board member of the Independent Schools Australia. John runs the annual Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) which, with between 600 to 700 participants, is the largest in Australia and New Zealand.

About the Breakfast Summit Series:
The Somerset Education Breakfast Seminar Series was created in 2021 by John Somerset FCA, Director, Somerset Education. The aim of the ‘live’ webinars is to introduce school governors, principals, and business managers to the latest thinking, innovative concepts, and new ideas to ensure their organisations are making well-informed decisions about financial risk to ensure the financial viability and sustainability of their school. Post-webinar, all registrants receive 30-day access to the webinar recording and speaker slides.

Register via Somerset Education Events
Registration fee:
$99.00 AUD (inc gst) per Registrant*
*Note: Please register even if you’re unable to attend the ‘live’ webinar as the recording is available to all Registrants up to thirty days after webinar.

“We are thinking of children and communities adversely affected by natural disasters and world events.”
John Somerset

For more information about our Breakfast Summit Series, please do not hesitate to contact us via email or call on 1300 781 968.

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.