Symmetry: Survey reports that ‘increasing efficiency’ is top priority for Further Education Finance Directors in 2011

Symmetry, a specialist financial management systems provider to the public sector has just announced the results of an annual survey of over 160 financial directors at FE colleges across the UK. The findings show that over half (57%) of the FDs polled said that their top goal over the next 12 months would be to ‘increase efficiency’.

The second biggest issue voiced by finance professionals was how they would manage ‘mergers’ followed by a growing interest in the adoption of cloud-based accounting, with 15% planning to implement it within the next 12-24 months. There was also a similar level of interest in investigating the use of ‘shared services’ with other Colleges.

Symmetry’s CEO Simon Kearsley commented, “With FE budgets being further squeezed by an estimated 25% this year, we expected efficiency to be at the top of the agenda for many finance directors. It’s also significant that as colleges begin to pool resources and consolidation takes place across the sector, adoption of shared services and cloud computing is gaining in popularity.”

He added, “Putting your accounts in the cloud can help colleges to reduce costs in both infrastructure and technical resources, without having to compromise on sophisticated functionality. For those Colleges who do not have the budget to replace an ageing finance system but still want to boost efficiencies, then a cloud based solution might be appropriate as there is no large capital investment required and colleges can embrace new ways of working such as devolvement, leading to cost-savings in the medium to short term.”

Symmetry has implemented its Symmetry Financials software into nearly 100 FE colleges and has recently launched a cloud version of the software called Financialsc. For further information on accounting solutions including those that work in the cloud please call 0117 9006262 or visit www.symmetry.co.uk

Editor’s notes:

About Symmetry:
Symmetry is a software company that specialises in the development and supply of business-to-business financial solutions within the UK. The company’s core product, Symmetry Financials, is a fully integrated financial and management accounting solution already in use at over 100 UK organisations, ranging in size from £3M turnover to £250M turnover and with user populations from 2 to 800+ users.

The solution Financials includes General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Commitment Accounting with purchasing and funds control, Assets, Information Manager, real-time reporting, secure e-procurement and comprehensive systems integration with Symmetry’s EasyLink.

Press Contact: Jane Moores, TTA Communications, 01225 580214. E-mail: jmoores@ttauk.com
twitter.com/ttacomms