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2%
of MATs across England use
IRIS Financials -
479+
Schools partner with
IRIS Education -
159,974+
families use IRIS solutions to
connect with their school
School finance software
Go beyond bookkeeping with IRIS Financials
Simplify accounting and make the most of your data with IRIS Financials, the market-leading financial management system for single and multi-academy trusts.
Consolidate accounts in real time with the unique unified ledger system, and use automation to tick purchasing, expenses, billing, budgeting, reporting, and more off the to-do list.
Education finance software
Count on IRIS Financials
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Save time with automation
Automate manual tasks like statutory returns and bank reconciliations to save time.
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Integrate any data source
Connect external data sources to your finance system with our data transformation tool.
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Reduce purchasing costs
Reduce costs with centralised contract management and streamlined supplier workflows.
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Maximise return on spending
Understand your trust’s financial position and maximise returns with system-wide data.
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Ensure compliance
Built for trusts, IRIS Financials ensures compliance without manual workarounds.
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Stay flexible
Set up finance workflows and approvals tailored to your trust’s financial operating model.
Book a personalised demo
See what IRIS Financials can do for your trust with a free demo tailored to your needs.
IRIS Education is a trusted provider for over 60% of MATs in England.
School and trust procurement
Simplify purchasing and procurement
Improve purchase management with our dedicated procurement module, including a single purchase ledger and a separate purchasing portal for staff.
Plus, use the procurement module to punch out directly to e-procurement partners.
• Order through e-procurement partners like Amazon Business, KCS Education, and ESPO
• Create pre-filled POs, streamline approvals, and automate orders
• Save time, reduce errors, and access live pricing – all while maintaining compliance
Advanced reporting
Powerful trust-wide reporting
Get powerful insights in no time with IRIS Financials’ Advanced Reporting suite.
- Create stunning visualisations, dashboards and financial reports
- Choose from an extensive range of out-of-the-box reports or build your own
- Drag-and-drop data fields to combine data in real-time
- Instantly share reports with decision-makers
- Get simple answers to data-based queries with our AI tool
See IRIS Financials in action
Watch the overview webinar and see first-hand how IRIS Financials
could transform your trust’s financial management.
Education finance software for single and multi-academy trusts
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Trust-wide reporting
A clear view across your trust
Use IRIS Financials to see the bigger financial picture, with real-time data and a wide selection of customisable and out-of-the-box reports.
This data can then be shared with IRIS Central, your trust-wide control tower. Consolidate financial insights with other data sets and gain a crystal-clear understanding of financial performance—so you can act faster, plan smarter, and lead with confidence
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Secure hosting
Cloud power, without the risk
Because your IRIS Financials software is hosted in a cloud environment, your trust can:
- Access financial data remotely from any location
- Use software hosted on secure UK-based servers
- Connect with tools like Microsoft Office and SQL Server
- Avoid costly IT infrastructure.
With strong encryption measures and expert support on hand, you can reduce expenses and focus resources where they’re needed most.
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Open banking
Faster, safer banking for your trust
Take the hassle out of financial processes with tools that speed things up and keep fraud at bay.
- Automatically verify supplier account details, just like a banking app, to eliminate manual checks and reduce fraud risks
- Retrieve statement data directly from your bank for faster, more accurate reconciliations
- Amend cashbook entries and review automatic matching results with ease.
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Budgeting tools
Simplify budgeting across your trust
Sync up your school finance software with IRIS Financial Planner, the school budgeting software designed for trusts.
Tap into live actuals and commitments for real-time forecasting and adjust on the fly with responsive trust-wide re-forecasting. And because your financial management and budgeting software work in harmony, you can:
- manage key budget assumptions with ease
- create trust budgets in a single step
- handle complex funding models
- and generate detailed reports – no spreadsheets required!
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Payment integration
Easy payments, automated admin
IRIS PlusPay is an online school payment system for trusts that automates transactions, reduces manual checks, and facilitates easier online payments.
By connecting PlusPay with IRIS Financials, you can manage and track payments with ease, while ensuring accurate transactions. Simply review the output files and the system takes care of the rest.
Trust-wide reporting
A clear view across your trust
Use IRIS Financials to see the bigger financial picture, with real-time data and a wide selection of customisable and out-of-the-box reports.
This data can then be shared with IRIS Central, your trust-wide control tower. Consolidate financial insights with other data sets and gain a crystal-clear understanding of financial performance—so you can act faster, plan smarter, and lead with confidence
Key functions of finance software
Everything you need to manage your trust’s finances
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Unified ledger
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Fixed assets
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Reporting
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Accounts receivable
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Purchasing and payments
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Budgeting
Free guide
A quick-start guide to the academies budget forecast return (BFR)
The truth about BFRs? They’re not just government forms – they're strategic tools for growth. Learn how a well-prepared BFR can strengthen your trust’s financial future.
Frequently asked questions
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Finance and accounting software for education, often called school finance software, is a digital tool used by multi-academy trusts (MATs), single-academy trusts (SATs), and local authorities to manage financial tasks like bookkeeping and reporting.
It may also be referred to as finance software for schools, school finance management software, or education finance software.
This software helps school business managers and senior leadership teams (SLTs) handle school finances efficiently. For trusts, it enables leaders to manage the finances of all schools within the trust and access trust-wide financial data in real time.
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School financial management describes how schools and trusts strategically allocate, manage, and record financial resources.
In practice, school financial management might look like:
- maintaining quality bookkeeping
- managing payments from families
- facilitating routine purchases (sometimes via e-procurement)
- using data to adjust and optimise school budgets
- generating reports on financial performance.
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School finance software simplifies financial processes for schools and trusts. It enables finance managers to handle essential tasks like bookkeeping, budgeting, and centralising financial resources.
Designed to save time and reduce manual admin, the software allows for efficient financial management while supporting remote access and compliance needs.
Integration with other tools, such as school budgeting software, provides real-time data access, detailed reporting, and the ability to go paperless.
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The best school finance software needs to be able to integrate with (i.e. connect to) other parts of your wider school or trust management system.
As a financial management system for schools and trusts, IRIS Financials can integrate with virtually any third-party data source using its data transformation tool. It also connects with:
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Schools and trusts must make frequent purchases to keep classrooms, offices, and canteens stocked up with essentials – so effective purchasing management is a must.
IRIS Financials supports trust leadership and staff with purchasing functionality like:
- A separate purchasing portal for staff to raise orders or requisitions, including e-procurement punchout to Amazon Business
- Customisable workflows and approvals
- A single purchase ledger to manage preferred suppliers
- The option to submit payments via separate or consolidated bank account
- A single VAT ledger which captures all VAT transactions and allows trusts to submit directly to HMRC.
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Yes, IRIS Financials allows your trust to make purchases via e-procurement partners, so you can punch out directly while you’re still in the software.
Some of the e-procurement partners your trust can order through include:
- Amazon Business
- KCS Education
- ESPO
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IRIS Financials continues to evolve, with exciting new features on the way, such as:
- Punchout invoice automation to accelerate the purchase-to-pay cycle.
- AI-powered purchase order suggestions.
- Self-service location addition, allowing you to add locations without support.
- A centralised approvals portal for all approval actions.
- Drag-and-drop workflow creation for quick setup.
- Integration with Every Compliance and Every Payroll.
Related products
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Financial planning and budgeting software for schools
Simplify school or trust-wide financial planning and budgeting. Create monthly payroll and budget reports, model alternative budget scenarios, apply automatic budget consolidation, and more.
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Smarter invoice management for trusts
IRIS Invoice Matcher automates invoice processing, reduces errors, saves time, and enhances financial visibility—perfect for growing multi-academy trusts.
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Collect and reflect on data from across your trust
From improving student outcomes to optimising financial performance, tap into data that can help you improve decision-making and achieve goals across your trust today.
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Simple, secure school payments for trusts
IRIS PlusPay offers multi-academy trusts a reliable online platform, making school payments easier, reducing admin for schools, and ensuring secure, trackable transactions.
