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The Board of Trustees’ Finance Committee has delegated responsibilities as listed below.

Membership of the Finance Committee

The current members of the committee are:

Alexander (Alex) Cameron (Chair)

Saadat (Sid) Mubashar

Peter McPartland OBE

Deepa Chandrasekaran

Responsibilities of the Finance Committee

Financial Management & Policies

1     To keep under review the Trust’s financial management and reporting arrangements, providing constructive challenge (where necessary) to the actions and judgements of management in relation to the interim management and financial accounts, statements and reports and the annual accounts and financial statements, prior to submission to the Trust Board, paying particular attention to:

• critical accounting policies and practices, and any changes in them
• decisions requiring a major element of judgement
• the extent to which the financial statements are affected by any unusual or complex transactions in the year and how they are disclosed
• the clarity and transparency of disclosures
• significant adjustments resulting from the audit
• the going concern assumption
• compliance with accounting standards
• compliance with DfE and legal requirements.

2     To review the Trust’s policy and procedures for handling allegations from whistleblowers.

3     To review the Trust’s policies and procedures for handling allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption.

4     To receive reports on the outcome of investigations of suspected or alleged impropriety.

5     To review the adequacy of policies for ensuring compliance with relevant regulatory, legal and code of conduct requirements.

6     To ensure that any significant losses are investigated and reported to the DfE where required.

7     To review the Trust’s risk management policy, strategy, processes and procedures for the identification, assessment, evaluation, management and reporting of risks.

8     To review the adequacy and robustness of risk registers.

9     To keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of the Trust’s governance, risk management and internal control arrangements, as well as its arrangements for securing value for money, through reports and assurances received from management, the Internal Controls Evaluation auditor, the external auditor and any other relevant independent assurances or reports (eg from the National Audit Office).

10   To review all risk and control related disclosure statements, in particular the Trust’s annual “Statement on Internal Control”, together with any associated reports and opinions from management, the external auditor and Internal Controls Evaluation auditor, prior to endorsement by the Trust Board.

11    To review any recommendations made by the Secretary of State for Education for improving the financial management of the Academies.

General Financial Matters

12    To consider approval of any expenditure/virements referred to the Committee under the requirements of the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation

13    To review the Trust consolidated budget and make recommendations to the Board of Directors.

14    To review the Trust 3 Year Financial Plan and make recommendations to the Board of Directors.

15    To review the Trust Central Budget and make recommendations to the Board of Directors.

16    To approve the annual budget for each individual school.

17    To regularly monitor actual expenditure and income against budget and make recommendations to the Board of Directors.

18    To review the mandates for the operation of school bank accounts and credit cards and make recommendations to the Board of Directors as appropriate.

19    To ensure appropriate insurance arrangements are in place for the Trust.

20    To ensure appropriate accounting policies have been set and recommend the Financial Regulations to the Trust Board

21    To ensure the annual accounts are produced in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 1985, Charities SORP and the Academies Financial Handbook guidance issued to schools

General

22    To review or investigate any other matters referred to the Committee by the Trust Board.

23    To draw any significant recommendations and matters of concern to the attention of the Trust Board.