We've enhanced both the Consolidated Management Report and Establishment level Management Report with clearer column naming and new budget tracking capabilities to give you better financial visibility.
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Renamed columns for clarity: Two key columns have been renamed to make their purpose more immediately clear. The 'Total to date' column is now called 'Total Actuals to date', and the 'Variance' column is now 'Variance (£)'. These changes ensure you can quickly identify actual spending versus variances at a glance.
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New 'Variance (%)' column: A new 'Variance (%)' column has been added to provide context and comparability alongside the absolute variance figures. This percentage calculation (rounded to the nearest significant figure) visualises the percentage variance between the Projected Budget and the Current Budget, making it easier to assess the proportional impact of variances across different budget lines.
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For example, if your Current Budget is £50,000 and your Projected Budget Outturn is £60,000, the Variance (%) will show 120%, instantly highlighting a 20% overspend.
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The new column appears after the 'Variance (£)' column.
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New 'Remaining Profiled Budget' column: A new column has been added to help you forecast more accurately throughout the financial year. The 'Remaining Profiled Budget' column shows the sum of your budget profiles for all remaining periods, giving you an instant view of what budget is still available based on your profiled allocations.
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For example, when running the management report at period 6, this column displays the total profiled budget for periods 7-12. At period 12, it shows £0.00 as there are no remaining periods. This consolidated view means schools and trusts can identify the impact of imported budgets on their financial year outturn at the touch of a button, making reforecasting significantly easier.
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The new column appears after 'Additional known commitments to the end of the year’.

We have made a change that makes it possible for you to save additional journal types as drafts, giving you greater flexibility in managing your financial workflows. The following record types can now be saved as drafts:

This enhancement means you can now start journals, save your progress, and return to complete them later without losing your work—particularly helpful when you need to gather additional information or approvals before finalising these transactions.

Product in a Tab Integration: Education Finance now opens as a tab within Access Evo rather than in separate browser windows. This keeps your finance workflows organised within your main Access environment and eliminates the need to manage multiple browser tabs.
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Modernised Icons and Visual Elements: All icons throughout Education Finance have been updated with clear, contemporary designs that improve navigation clarity and create visual consistency across purchase orders, invoices, budgets, and reporting functions.
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Updated Colours: The interface now features Access brand colours with a brighter, more professional appearance.
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Enhanced Navigation Menu Streamlined menu structure with improved visual hierarchy makes it easier to locate specific functions within Education Finance, reducing time spent navigating between different areas.
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Benefits: Finance teams experience improved daily workflows with clearer navigation, and better organisation when switching between finance functions and other Access products.

These enhancements were released to customers throughout October 2025.