Questions Governors Should Ask About School Finances

Every governor receives a budget monitoring report at some point. Fewer governors know what to do with it once it lands in the meeting pack.

Financial scrutiny is not demonstrated by receiving information - it is demonstrated by engaging with it. Inspectors, auditors and anyone reviewing governance records later are not looking for evidence that a report was circulated. They are looking for evidence that governors read it, questioned it, and understood the answers. That evidence comes from the questions governors ask.

This article is a practical question bank. You do not need to ask every question on every topic at every meeting. Arriving with two or three good questions per topic is enough to demonstrate active oversight - and far more useful than trying to cover everything and asking none of it well.

How to use these questions

Use this list to prepare before the meeting, not to read from during it. Skim the budget monitoring report or finance papers in advance, pick out the two or three areas that look most relevant this time, and note a question or two under each. For background on what to look for in the papers themselves, see what financial information should governors review and preparing finance reports for the board.

Adapt the questions to your school's situation - a question about falling pupil numbers is not relevant to a school with a waiting list, and a question about capital spend is not relevant if there is none planned this term. And if you do not understand the answer you are given, ask again in plainer terms. That is itself good governance, not a weakness.

Overall budget position

Start here at every meeting where finances are discussed. These questions establish the baseline before drilling into specific areas.

Is the school currently over, under or on budget - and by how much?
What is driving the most significant variance?
Is the variance a one-off or does it reflect a recurring pattern?
What is our projected year-end position?
Are there any risks to the projected position that we should be aware of?

Staffing costs

Staffing is typically 70-80% of a school's budget, so even small movements here matter more than movements anywhere else.

Are staffing costs tracking as budgeted?
If there is a staffing underspend, is this due to a vacancy - and what is the impact on provision?
What are our current supply cover costs, and are they within budget?
Are there any planned changes to staffing structure that will affect the budget this year or next?
Is the current staffing model sustainable given our projected income?

Income

Governors should understand where the money comes from, not just where it goes.

Is our overall income tracking as expected?
Are there any income streams at risk?
Is pupil premium funding being spent in line with our published strategy?
Are there any grants or additional funding streams we should be aware of or pursuing?

Reserves

A school's reserves position is one of the clearest signals of financial health - and one of the figures governors are least likely to know off the top of their head.

What is our current reserves position?
Is our reserves level within the range recommended by our LA or trust?
Are we using reserves to fund recurring expenditure - and if so, is this sustainable?
Do we have a reserves policy, and when was it last reviewed?

Cashflow and in-year pressures

A school can be on budget for the year and still face a timing problem within it. These questions catch pressures that a headline budget figure can hide.

Are there any in-year cashflow pressures we need to be aware of?
Is there any unplanned expenditure that requires board approval?
Are there any capital items or premises costs that will affect the revenue budget?

Pupil premium

Pupil premium is one of the few funding streams where governors are explicitly expected to track both spend and impact - not just receipt of the money.

Is pupil premium spend tracking against our published strategy?
What evidence do we have of the impact of pupil premium spending?
When was our pupil premium strategy last reviewed and updated?

Financial sustainability

These questions take the discussion beyond this year's figures and into the medium-term picture - a perspective governors are specifically there to provide.

Based on current projections, is the school financially sustainable in the medium term (3-5 years)?
Are there any demographic, funding or policy changes that could affect our financial position?
What would need to change if our funding allocation were reduced?

Finance committee and reporting

If your school delegates detailed scrutiny to a finance committee, the full board still needs enough information to exercise its own judgement.

What did the finance committee discuss or recommend at its last meeting?
Are there any items the committee felt the full board should be aware of?
Is the committee receiving the information it needs to do its job effectively?

Turning questions into governance evidence

A question asked at a meeting is only evidence of scrutiny if it appears in the minutes. This means the clerk to governors needs to capture the question and the answer - not just the eventual decision.

Compare these two minute entries:

The finance report was received and noted.

Governors asked about the projected staffing underspend and the headteacher confirmed recruitment was under way for the vacant post, with supply cover costs currently within the contingency budget.

The second entry is scrutiny evidence. The first is not - regardless of how much discussion actually happened in the room. If the minutes do not capture it, there is no record that it occurred. See recording board decisions effectively and board minutes and inspection evidence for more on what a strong minute entry needs to include across all governance areas, not just finance.

Common governor finance engagement mistakes

Never preparing questions before the meeting, and relying on whatever comes to mind in the room
Accepting "everything is fine" as an answer without asking what that assessment is based on
Not following up on concerns raised at a previous meeting, so issues quietly disappear from the record
Letting "the finances were noted" stand as the only minute entry, even when real discussion took place

Any governing board can check its last two or three sets of minutes against this list. If finance items consistently show as "noted" with no supporting detail, that is a gap worth addressing before it is picked up by someone else. For the wider picture on demonstrating oversight, see how governors can demonstrate effective oversight.

FAQ

Do I need to ask every question in this list? No. Two or three well-chosen questions per topic, asked consistently over time, demonstrate far more genuine engagement than trying to cover every question in a single meeting.

I am not a finance specialist - is it still my job to ask these questions? Yes. Financial oversight does not require an accounting background. It requires curiosity, a willingness to ask for plain explanations, and enough consistency to follow up on what you are told.

What if the headteacher or school business manager cannot answer a question straight away? That is a reasonable outcome. Note that the question was asked and that an answer will follow, and check it comes back at the next meeting. A deferred answer is still part of the scrutiny trail, provided it is followed up.

Should every governor ask finance questions, or just the finance committee? Every governor has a role in financial oversight, even where a finance committee handles the detail. Governors who are not on the committee should still ask enough questions to understand the school's overall position and hold the committee's reporting to account.

How do I know if my questions are actually improving governance, not just filling the agenda? Look at the minutes. If questions and answers are being recorded with enough detail to be understood months later, they are doing their job. If the record still just says "noted," the questions are not making it into the evidence trail - even if they were asked out loud.

How Edvance helps

Asking good questions is only half the job - the other half is making sure they show up in the record. Edvance helps governing boards document financial engagement as it happens: the questions asked, the concerns raised, the decisions made, so that scrutiny appears in the minutes as evidence rather than as "noted." Book a governance readiness demo to see how Edvance helps governing boards evidence financial scrutiny that meets inspection standards.

This article provides general governance guidance for governors of UK maintained schools and academies. It does not constitute financial advice. Governors should work with their school business manager, finance officer or external finance advisers for specific financial decisions, and should refer to current DfE and, where applicable, ESFA guidance for their school type.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to ask every question in this list?

No. Two or three well-chosen questions per topic, asked consistently over time, demonstrate far more genuine engagement than trying to cover every question in a single meeting.

I am not a finance specialist - is it still my job to ask these questions?

Yes. Financial oversight does not require an accounting background. It requires curiosity, plain explanations, and consistency in following up on what you are told.

What if the headteacher or school business manager cannot answer a question straight away?

That is reasonable. Note that the question was asked and that an answer will follow, then check it comes back at the next meeting.

Should every governor ask finance questions, or just the finance committee?

Every governor has a role in financial oversight, even where a finance committee handles the detail. Non-committee governors still need enough information to understand the overall position.

How do I know if my questions are actually improving governance?

Look at the minutes. If questions and answers are recorded with enough detail to be understood months later, they are doing their job.