Introduction
I visited the School and interviewed a school financial manager. The focus of my interview was the manager’s professional experience and skills, her responsibilities at the workplace; the peculiarities of financial management at School, and the challenges the manager faces.
Interview
What stages have you taken at your career path? How have you become a school manager?
I am a college graduate in accounting. After finishing education, I got a position of an accounting assistant in a hospital in Brownsville. I spend 1.5 years at this job. When I came here, I got the position of an accountant in the School 1 and worked there for 3 years. To switch from medicine to education, I took a training course and studied school accounting software. After that, I was lucky to come to this school as an accountant and, having worked 2 years at this position, I became a financial manager.
What is the key difference between the positions of a school accountant and a school finance manager?
When being an accountant, you are responsible for calculating, registering, keeping records, reporting, etc. Being a financial manager is more about making decisions. A financial manager has a range of options concerning each issue that arises in the school’s everyday life, and he or she has to make an optimal decision. The most effective one.
What decisions are the most difficult to make?
Well, limited funds make all decisions quite difficult. According to the statements of economic theory, needs are endless and resources are limited, which always makes a decision-maker think hard. Of course, this is about our school as well.
What are your decisions based on?
They are based on the current problems the school needs to solve. A school always has a big range of problems – or at least a range of issues to solve. I fulfill finance management based on the principal’s vision of the current situation. She defines the priorities, and I bring these ideas into life.
What about long-term strategy? As a financial manager, do you develop a strategy for the school’s finances?
Well, strategic planning looks good on the paper, in finance management student books. However, in the real life, it is very difficult to plan anything for a long period. Life brings new needs and new expenses, and the principal also tries to be flexible in order to react to the current challenges appropriately.
What software do you use in your finance management system?
Recently we have introduced the TIES Finance system. The school is quite big, and we needed to make our accounting and finance management convenient and effective. It took me and the accountant certain time to get familiarized with this software; however, now I am confident this change has been worth doing.
Do you have any plans for improvement of the school finance management system?
Well, despite there is always something that you may improve in anything, I think at the moment financial management at school functions well. We work in accordance with the federal standards and the framework provided by the district authorities
I believe we distribute funds effectively. Our accounting and reporting is kept in order. We are ready to meet audits and demonstrate that funds are received and spent appropriately.
Conclusion
The manager has mentioned that financial management is not equal to fulfilling routine accounting actions; it implies doing investigations, analyzing the status quo, and making decisions aimed at improvement of the school’s finances. However, it seems that Name Surname stays an advanced accountant rather than a financial manager. She does not fulfill long-term planning focusing on the short run.
The manager is unwilling to take the initiative in decision-making in the field of finance; she prefers to listen to the principal’s opinion on the priorities in allocation of funds. Instead, she might provide the principal with a fund allocation rationale based on the analysis of school curriculum.
The manager should outline her rights and responsibilities in detail. She needs to undergo a professional training for finance managers in order to learn the opportunities she has considering her position.
As for the routine actions, accounting and reporting is conducted appropriately and in time. The software used at the school makes it simple to control cash flaws, inventories and fulfill other procedures. The manager also fulfills finance management efficiency analysis: she creates a report where she shows the directions of fund allocation and its effectiveness. The report is presented to the principal.