Expert view: Keeping academies stable

Graham Wilson, partner at the Blackburn office of accountants and business advisors Beever and Struthers, sees a need for stable and consistent regulation of academy schools.

My school is now an academy and therefore an exempt charity and a company limited by guarantee. That makes it subject to company law and charity law – tried and tested legislation that has evolved since Victorian times.

Academies are also expected to comply with the general Statement of Recommend Practice (SORP) that applies to most charities; whereas independent schools, higher and further education institutions all have their own tailored versions.

A Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), designed to provide accounting consistency within a particular sector, for academies is on the cards, but it will be too late for one school groundsman whose £20k salary is there for all to see, including friends and colleagues. Actually, the need for such disclosure can be avoided if the academy’s governing structure is appropriately structured. The regulation of academies is complex and ever-changing, but there are specialist advisors who have built up considerable expertise to help academies, leaving them to do what they were set up to do – to provide our children with a first class education.