The ESFA have announced that academy accounts return data from 2023 to 2024 is now available on the new financial benchmarking and insights tool (FBIT).
FBIT was introduced in autumn 2024, replacing the ‘View my financial insights tool’ and the ‘Schools financial benchmarking’ website, to become the principal place for schools to view their financial data and benchmark their spending.
FBIT can be used by anyone working in a role relating to school resource management to:
- benchmark a school’s or academy trust’s spending against other similar providers
- identify areas for improvement and share best practice with other schools
- produce a workforce deployment plan via DfE’s curriculum and financial planning tool
- easily access commercial resources, guidance and frameworks provided by DfE
- build a report to share analysis with governors, trustees and senior leadership
We would encourage all CFOs to explore the new FBIT, and for anyone interested they are running introductory webinars during February and March 2025 to support new users of the tool and provide a refresher session on benchmarking.
UHY can also offer a benchmarking service, and we would be very pleased to hear from you if you would like some assistance in this area. Also look out for our 13th National Academy Sector benchmarking report when this is published in the spring!
The next step
If you require any advice with the above, please contact Allan Hickie on a.hickie@uhy-uk.com or your usual UHY academy adviser.
