I'm the Business & Finance director for a multi-academy trust comprising a secondary school and 7 primary schools. We originally converted on 1st April 2012 and we made the decision to switch our accounting software at the point of conversion to ensure that we were appropriately placed to meet the many accounting challenges as a MAT. We looked at 5 different software packages from 6 different companies and engaged our newly appointed external auditors and all of our finance officers in the process. The decision was unanimously in favour of PS Financials and I would standby this decision 2-years downstream. Our conversion was straightforward, the training provided was excellent and the support has been first class. We have developed an extremely positive relationship with the desk leads that look after our MAT and I would have absolutely no hesitation in highly recommending PSF to any MAT. Moreover, incontrast to a couple of the unprofessional comments posted in this thread, I would suggest that for any serious MAT, PSF is the only credible accounting software on the market. It allows centralised control and decentralised execution, provides the means to look centrally at each school in 'stovepipe' or look cross functionally at ledger codes. In my experience, many companies make this claim but none to my knowledge offer the same level of flexibility and agility. Another major factor is that PSF hold by far the market share for MAT's, not only does this tell its own story, but it means that it remains in PSF's interest to continually develop their software and reporting packages to keep hundreds/thousands of customers happy. PSF are also engaged by the EFA as they look to develop their reporting needs. Finally, our external auditors comment on the ease with which they are able to do their audit, aided considerably by our accounting software.
Choosing an accounting package for a MAT is a big decision and not one that you will wish to repeat in the short to medium term. Make sure you look at the market and go and see the software in operation before you decide.
