The ROI of Cloud Accounting Software for Colleges

What is the current state of further education in the UK, and where are the losses happening?

Unlike multi-academy trust schools and higher education universities, a high proportion (37%) of colleges reported a deficit in 2023, largely due to a lack of funding. This lack of funds drives away 57% of adult students who pay fees by reducing the number of courses offered. [1]

The majority of losses are external factors; however, without modern technology, college finance leaders can’t access and report on the financial data that might help win a business case for the institution’s funding.

3 ways cloud accounting benefits colleges

A cloud-based finance system is the optimal way for finance leaders in the education sector to monitor spending and control costs. With real-time access to accurate data, finance leaders gain complete oversight of a college’s financial position, helping them to give value back to students.

1. Integrating your finance and business systems saves time

College accounting software that integrates with college business systems eliminates time-consuming, manual data reconciliation. When a cost centre is added in one system, it is automatically created in Xledger, meaning finance can spend more time analysing numbers instead of administering.

This means that colleges receive better ROI on their accounting system because their finance team has time to perform value-adding tasks, an essential part of cost control and oversight that could make or break a college’s survival.

2. A highly automated finance system reduces errors

Automated workflows, like in-built OCR and payment approvals, significantly reduce the risk of errors for college finance departments by eliminating manual input. With fewer errors, college finance leaders can completely trust their reports, knowing the data is accurate.

Similarly, with automated invoice and pre-payment notifications, the appropriate user knows it’s time to check all requests. Speeding up the billing and invoicing process leads to greater efficiency, saving time and increasing accuracy.

3. Increases cost oversight and control

A user-friendly interface has a positive impact on how finance empowers budget holders to take ownership of their spending. If non-finance users, such as department leads, have access to self-serve dashboards, they have oversight and understanding of their spending, while finance remains in control.

Not only does this reduce the excessive amount of time it takes for budget holders to gain access to their department budget and allocate resources, but it also enables departments to create valuable learning opportunities for students.

Xledger’s accounting software for colleges

By investing in Xledger, finance leaders gain complete oversight of their college’s financial position, as well as access to real-time reporting tools that take the stress out of creating financial reports.

Get in touch with Xledger’s dedicated team to invest in new finance software and avoid the risk of cost-sunk fallacy today.

References

[1] Moura, B. and Tahir, I. (2024),The state of college finances in England | The Institute of Fiscal Studies.