Somerset Education

🎁 Season's Greetings from Somerset Education   We sincerely thank you for your continued support of the Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) and the work we do.   Highlights for 2024 include: ⭐️ 2024 Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) > Reconvened survey committee (ASBA, CEBA, AIS) > 500 schools participated to date > 80 schools underway — Reminder 2024 survey (2023 school-year data) closes in April 2025 > Participants represent $13.3 billion in turnover, 462,000 enrolments (60% of Australian Independent school enrolments) > Approximately 2,000 reports generated > 40 + presentations to individual schools and groups > Consistently 10 out of 10 customer satisfaction — thank you for your engagement. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gHihW6br 🌸 We will be closed from 5pm Thursday 19 December 2024 to 9am Monday 20 January 2025. More information about Somerset Education and to view our training videos: https://lnkd.in/g59y9JRA 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism 📸 Photo below: Somerset Education year-end group dinner. John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathryn Galvin Cathy Galvin

📈 Christian Schools Australia National Business Conference, Thursday 24 October 2024 — School Finances and Benchmarking Presented by John Somerset FCA, Director, Somerset Education Thank you for the warm welcome at the CSA conference last week where John gave a practical presentation on our passion of empowering Christian Schools Australia business managers to advise and guide their schools on financial sustainability and identifying what counts towards financial confidence. And a particular thank you for the wonderful 80’s themed conference dinner and trivia night. One difficult question was to link a photo of eyes to celebrities… 'Matilda' proved a challenge. 🦘 More information about Somerset Education and to view our training videos:https://lnkd.in/g59y9JRA 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years  #SomersetEducation #JohnSomerset #FSSreport #FSS #FinancialViability #FinancialSustainability #FinancialBenchmarking #NonGovernmentSchools #privateschools #schools #schoolgovenors  #schoolboards #schoolprincipals #schoolbusinessmanagers  #governwithconfidence #LeversOfFinancialSustainability  #Simplicity #Integrity #Professionalism John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin 📸 Images: John found 'Matilda the Kangaroo’ 🦘(Brisbane’s 1982 Commonwealth Games winking kangaroo mascot) at Traveston Service Centre. Identifying eyes in the fun, 80s-themed, "The eyes have it” Trivia night 🕺proved very difficult especially when one set of eyes ended up being Matilda’s! 👀; and some of the slides from the presentation.

💲School budgets — a key to financial confidence In recent weeks we have helped several schools to integrity-check their budget and develop options to achieve operational, capital expenditure, and loan servicing needs. Our current blog features four short videos explaining how you can do this efficiently and effectively using Somerset Education tools (links below). 🎬 3-Way Budget Model  > How to use the 3-Way Budget Model to improve and enhance the financial confidence in your overall budget. 🎬 Budget Integrity > Learn how to use your KPI sheet in our budget model to improve budget integrity 🎬 Staff Estimator > Compare your staff with similar schools to inform staffing decisions. 🎬 Budget Scenarios > Learn how to use the SKI Scenario Builder™ tool to instantly “dollarise” and risk assess budget options. 👉 Watch the videos and to read more: https://lnkd.in/gmFfkayz 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism More information about Somerset Education: https://lnkd.in/g59y9JRA #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years #SomersetEducation  #JohnSomerset #FSSreport #FSS #FinancialViability #FinancialSustainability #FinancialBenchmarking #NonGovernmentSchools #privateschools #schools #schoolgovenors #schoolboards #schoolprincipals #schoolbusinessmanagers #governwithconfidence #LeversOfFinancialSustainability  #Simplicity #Integrity #Professionalism John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin

📈 Association of School Business Administrators (ASBA) NSW Annual Conference 8-11 October 2024 — Everything Counts ⛑️ Managing your School’s financial health: Tools and case studies presented by John Somerset FCA, Director, Somerset Education A practical presentation on our passion of empowering business managers to advise and guide their schools on financial sustainability including which measures count most, setting targets, and what can be done to achieve them. More information: https://lnkd.in/g59y9JRA 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years #SomersetEducation #JohnSomerset #FSSreport #FSS #FinancialViability #FinancialSustainability #FinancialBenchmarking #NonGovernmentSchools #privateschools #schools #schoolgovenors #schoolboards #schoolprincipals #schoolbusinessmanagers #governwithconfidence #LeversOfFinancialSustainability #Simplicity #Integrity #Professionalism John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin Images: John enjoying beautiful Port Macquarie, during the Association of School Business Administrators (ASBA) NSW Annual Conference; and key slides from John’s presentation. 

📈 Expenses up by 10%, what are the solutions? Somerset Education runs a number of presentations each year using the Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) to analyse schools’ performance, pinpoint risks and provide solutions to mitigate these risks. At every presentation we ask for feedback including what worries schools and what more information they want from us. This year schools are telling us they want to understand industry trends and find solutions to address increasing costs, especially wages, and how to set affordable fees whilst funding capital expenditure and debt servicing. This is not surprising given preliminary results show average expenses for independent schools rose 10% in 2023 over the prior year and income is struggling to keep pace. With cost pressures expected to continue in 2024 and 2025, how do schools set fee levels to sustainably fund capital expenditure and debt servicing? What is the solution and how can Somerset Education help your school? 👉 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gTFRjN9k 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years #SomersetEducation #JohnSomerset #FSSreport #FSS #FinancialViability #FinancialSustainability #FinancialBenchmarking #NonGovernmentSchools #privateschools #schools #schoolgovenors #schoolboards #schoolprincipals #schoolbusinessmanagers #governwithconfidence #LeversOfFinancialSustainability #Simplicity #Integrity #Professionalism John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin

John Somerset FCA is looking forward to presenting at the upcoming Montessori Australia's Webinar (online via Zoom) — 9:30am to 11:00am (AEST) Wednesday, 04 September 2024. 📊 John Somerset FCA topic is: What makes financially sustainable schools? > More info on Montessori Australia’s event and to register for free: https://lnkd.in/gRWtF4K3 Somerset Education's mission is simple: Equip schools with knowledge and confidence to make informed financial decisions, mitigate risk, and reduce financial worries... with ease. 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years #SomersetEducation #MontessoriAustralia John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin

John Somerset FCA is looking forward to attending and presenting at the upcoming Association of School Business Administrators (ASBA) | NSW Conference, Port Macquarie, 08 October - 11 October 2024. 📈 John Somerset FCA topic is: Managing your School's financial health — Tools and case studies... > More info on ASBA | NSW conference: https://asbansw.com.au/ Somerset Education's mission is simple: Equip schools with knowledge and confidence to make informed financial decisions, mitigate risk, and reduce financial worries... with ease. 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years #SomersetEducation John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin

Somerset Education is hiring... Flexible Work-from-Home Opportunity for Financial Expert in Education Position: Somerset Education Finance Expert and ‘Champion’ 📍 Location: NSW or Victoria Are you a Chartered Accountant or CPA with a deep understanding of finance in education? Join our boutique consultancy and combine your expertise with the dynamic world of managing finances in non-government schools. This casual role is for one to two days per week working from home. Workload is seasonal. 👉🏻 Read more in the one-page position description. 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism

🚀 Now available! Improved 2024 (2023 school-year) Financial Survey for Schools Reports to help you look ahead with confidence...   2024 (2023 school year) ratio analysis/benchmarking reports are now available. Samples will grow as more schools participate over the months ahead.   Haven’t entered your data yet? Don’t worry it’s not too late you can participate at any time but early bird participation prices* end on 30 September, 2024.   Our mission is simple: equip schools with knowledge and confidence to make informed financial decisions, mitigate risk and reduce financial worries... with ease. So, joining the Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) not only empowers you with data-driven decisions but also contributes to innovation and continual improvement of the sector. Every participant adds to the comprehensive dataset benefiting all schools. Read more here 👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/gAsMgYH9 🎬 Here is link to updated Somerset Education’s 20-minute 'crash course' video to help you read and analyse FSS reports: https://lnkd.in/gNQq7Tuv 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years #SomersetEducation #JohnSomerset #FSSreport #FSS #FinancialViability #FinancialSustainability #FinancialBenchmarking #NonGovernmentSchools #privateschools #schools #schoolgovenors #schoolboards #schoolprincipals #schoolbusinessmanagers #governwithconfidence #LeversOfFinancialSustainability #Simplicity #Integrity #Professionalism John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin 📸 Photo: John Somerset FCA in his office where he has spent the last 14 days testing (and trying to break) the FSS reporting platform.

⏰ Somerset Education we aim to have the latest (2023 school-year data) Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) reports available from 1st August 2024. Perfect timing for the budgeting season. Make sure you have downloaded last year’s (2022 school-year) reports before Monday 15th July 2024. During our rollover you will still be able to enter data for the 2023 school-year which we encourage you to complete by 1st August 2024. 🎒Almost 300 schools have already started to lodge their 2023 school-year data, so why wait…participate now and be part of the largest and longest running school financial survey in Australia. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUdbd5Rr 🍎 Somerset Education | Simplicity | Integrity | Professionalism #20YearsOfFinancialConfidence #TheNext20Years #SomersetEducation #JohnSomerset #FSSreport #FSS #FinancialViability #FinancialSustainability #FinancialBenchmarking #NonGovernmentSchools #privateschools #schools #schoolgovenors #schoolboards #schoolprincipals #schoolbusinessmanagers #governwithconfidence #LeversOfFinancialSustainability #Simplicity #Integrity #Professionalism John Somerset FCA David Reed Cathy Galvin Cathryn Galvin