engage accounts school finance system launch ISBAThe Double First story started way back in 1987 when the fledging company was created to ensure that independent schools in the UK got the accounts solution they needed. Not an adaption of commercial products with poor, impersonal support.

Since then we’ve lost count of the times we’ve been there right alongside schools for termly bill runs, financial year-ends and everything in-between.

From there our classic and widely adopted Double First Accounts solution was born. It has been managing the school accounts requirements of many independent schools, and will continue to do so in the days ahead.

Now we’ve opened a new chapter with the launch of our new Engage Accounts suite. It’s a richly featured solution, with broad capabilities for schools and groups that require it, but still equally adaptable for the smaller school. When used with our Engage school management information system it perfectly connects all of the dots between the bursary, the SMT, parents and teaching staff. 

Engage Accounts is a new product based on tested technology from our wholly owned company, Accounting Office, which has a team that also brings much knowledge of accounting and finance systems. It was developed in close collaboration with Double First’s highly experienced finance team.

Double First was delighted to use attendance at the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association (ISBA) annual conference to launch Engage Accounts this week. The stand was overrun with enquiries, a strong indicator that this is the modern school accounts solution that the independent schools market has been looking for.

 engage accounts school financial systemGroup Finance Director Kieran Millar has been a part of the Engage Accounts development team and explains: “Administration staff will be able to manage many time consuming processes in an efficient fashion, from basic accounts processes through to budgets, assets, stock and shops. And when integrated with our Engage school management information system portals the school’s accounts are longer isolated in the bursary. Parents can check statements and copy invoices, plus book and give consent for trips and activities. Teachers can access their individual budget summaries with full drill-down to detail, and place requisitions against their budgets, with further authorisation if required.”

Bursar Sarah Hall from Belmont Preparatory School has been piloting an installation of Engage Accounts since mid 2014. She explains: “I reconciled all of my control accounts and went live with Engage Accounts straight away because I trusted it.

“I like the full integration with Engage. The live functionality and the ability to pull things straight through from our Engage school management information system is absolutely brilliant.

“Engage Accounts is very intuitive and easy to use.I have a new assistant and spent less than an hour showing her the system. Now she just runs with it, even though she had just returned to office work after a long break.”

Download the Engage Accounts case study hereand contact us using the details below to see it in action.