Switching finance systems is the decision many small MAT CFOs know they need to make but keep putting off. Not because the current setup is working well, but because changing it, with no team to absorb the disruption and a full compliance calendar running in parallel, feels like a significant undertaking.
What follows is a straight account of what switching to IMP Planner as a small MAT involves, what the early weeks look like, and what specifically changes in the months that follow.
Why small MAT CFOs delay, and why that makes the problem worse
The three objections that come up most often are cost, complexity and timing. All three are worth addressing directly.
On cost, the question is not whether a new system costs money. It does. The more useful question is what the current approach costs. Manual consolidation each month, reforecasting built from scratch every cycle, governance reporting that requires significant preparation before it can be presented: these are not free. They cost hours, and in a role where hours are the scarcest resource, that is a real financial consideration.
On complexity, the concern is usually that a system designed for larger organisations will arrive with features and implementation demands that do not fit a trust of two to five schools. That is a legitimate concern when applied to corporate platforms adapted for education. IMP Planner was not adapted from anything. It was built specifically for MATs.
On timing, there is never a quiet period in MAT finance. The calendar fills itself. The question is not whether there is a perfect moment to change systems. The question is whether staying with a setup that creates pressure every cycle is worth more than the short-term adjustment of moving to something built for the job.
That urgency is common in small trusts. What is less often discussed is how quickly the pressure eases once the right system is in place.
What implementation in a small MAT actually looks like
A good implementation process for a small trust does not require a project team, a dedicated internal resource or months of preparation. It requires a clear process, a well-built system and support from people who understand how small MATs operate.
With IMP Planner, implementation is structured around your trust’s actual size and context. The system is configured to reflect how your trust works: your schools, your chart of accounts, your pay scales, your reporting requirements. You are not asked to adapt your processes to fit a generic setup.
The early weeks focus on getting the core right. Budgets in the system, staffing baselines connected to payroll data, assumptions aligned across schools and reporting set up to produce what you need for governors and compliance. For a trust of two to five schools, this is a manageable process, not a transformation programme.
What specifically changes in the months that follow
Staffing budgets start from contracted payroll reality rather than manually maintained spreadsheet estimates. When a pay award lands or a new appointment is made, the impact flows through the model automatically. There is no manual rework across multiple sheets.
Assumptions are set once at MAT level and shared across every school simultaneously. When something changes centrally, it flows everywhere. The drift that previously appeared between schools because different people were working from slightly different starting points stops.
Reforecasting does not require rebuilding the model from scratch. IMP Planner updates continuously as the year progresses, so the in-year position is always current rather than only accurate at the point of the last manual update.
BFR preparation, which previously required intensive manual consolidation before submission, is automated. Excelsior Multi-Academy Trust described this specifically: “IMP Planner accommodated unexpected pay awards seamlessly. Automated BFR template management reduces time and effort for annual returns.”
Scenario modelling that previously took days because every scenario required a separate spreadsheet model takes minutes. Trust-wide scenarios can be built, compared and updated live in meetings.
Trust-wide consolidation, the task that consumed the most time in the previous setup, is available instantly without manual intervention. The consolidated picture is accurate at the point when it is needed, not only at the point when someone has had time to produce it.
What the platform gives you as the Trust grows
IMP Planner is the right starting point for a small MAT. It is also the engine of the IMP Unified Platform, which connects planning, finance and purchasing in a single environment built on one data model.
For a trust of two to five schools today, the immediate value is in planning, forecasting and reporting. As the trust grows and the finance function becomes more complex, IMP Finance sits alongside Planner on the same platform, bringing budget-led day-to-day finance into the same environment. Every transaction starts from a recognised budget pot. Actuals stay aligned to the plan. The reconciliation between what was budgeted and what was spent stops being a monthly task and becomes the natural state of the system.
That means the decision to switch now is not just about fixing the current setup. It is about choosing a foundation that does not need replacing when the trust reaches eight, ten or fifteen schools.
The support question
For a small MAT CFO working without a team, the quality of support available when questions arise matters enormously. Not a generic helpdesk. Not a ticket system with a three-day turnaround.
IMP’s support team is made up of former MAT finance professionals. People who have built budgets across multiple schools, managed ESFA returns under pressure and carried a full trust finance function in a small team. When a question comes in, the answer comes from someone who has worked in that environment, not from a script.
The practical question to ask before you decide
How much time did you spend last month consolidating figures that should already have been consolidated? How much of last budget season was rebuilding work rather than planning work? How confident were you in the numbers when you presented them to governors?
Those questions point to a cost that rarely appears on a line in a spreadsheet but accumulates every month. IMP Planner does not remove the complexity of the CFO role in a small trust. It removes the manual overhead that sits between the CFO and doing that role well. And as the trust grows, the platform it sits on grows with it.
Book a demo with our team, and see how IMP Planner works for small Trusts.
