This week Emma has given us an update on the changes to reporting in Management Accounting and it seems that it’s not just the season which will be changing…

The new academic year is upon us and Finance and Planning find ourselves at the heart of supporting the University Leadership Team as they look to  move the university towards  a  ‘ Performance Led Culture’ . A big part of this will be a new Monthly Performance Report that is being developed, led by Planning but involving all areas of the University including Finance. This report will replace the previous Quarterly Performance Report which as some of you will remember has an enormous amount of data in it and it’s not that easy to see what it is saying. The new report will be focussed on a set of Key Performance Indicators that have been agreed by ULT . It will have less data , more visuals and more commentary which collectively should make it easier to understand. As with the previous reports it will be published on the Source.

Finance are feeling the direct impact of this move to monthly as oppose to quarterly accounting particularly in the management accounting, corporate reporting and financial reporting teams. There is going to be a much tighter deadline for monthly accounts and management accounts.  Having previously had 8 working days to produce the report, this will now reduce to 5 days .

Due to the increased workload and tighter timescales we are taking the opportunity to review some of  our other management account processes to look for ways in which we can cut out work that doesn’t add value, be more innovative in our approach, and avoid duplication and hand-offs between teams. As the reporting for the new academic year is nearly upon us we are primarily  looking for quick wins.  All the management accounts teams have been involved in generating ideas  as to how we can do this and these are now being discussed to identify the quick wins and things we should ‘just get on with’. There may be some actions that need a different approach or a longer timescale and for those we may be knocking on the door of the Continuous Improvement team to support.

It’s never easy going about any change and I have really appreciated  the openness and enthusiasm from the management accounting teams.  Although it isn’t going to be easy coping with additional work and changes I am confident it will be worth it.