Fortifying financial future with outsourcing

Overview

Financial health underpins Eton Academy’s ability to deliver specialized education and tailored services for K-12 neurodiverse learners. Eton established financial governance, solidified funding and modernized financial operations, including tuition receivables and aftercare billing. It renewed board confidence with superior financial reporting. How? The independent school opened its doors to Wipfli’s outsourced CFO, controller and back-office resources, with Eton’s leadership guiding the way.

The challenge

Eton needed to fill the gap left by its long-term controller’s retirement and concurrently saw an opportunity to evaluate its overarching financial strategy and recalibrate its financial operations. It wanted to invigorate board and executive strategic decision-making with superior, predictable financial reporting and day-to-day support. It wanted access to best practices and fresh ideas to fortify its financial health.

The solution

Wipfli assessed the school’s needs and with Eton’s full support, integrated outsourced CFO, controller and back-office resources. Wipfli:

• Guided the board and finance committee by creating a financial improvement roadmap.
• Established governance metrics, introduced a spending policy and updated the endowment strategy.
• Added weekly status updates and enabled accurate financial statements and data visibility with a reporting revamp.
• Modernized back-office operations, including aftercare AP automation and bill.com implementation.
• Built a tuition receivables program, with a dedicated Wipfli manager creating financial plans that helped families navigate payment plans in line with the school’s philosophy and approach.

The results

Eton gained the results it desired — and much more — with Wipfli at its side. The school was able to:

• See a 50% reduction in tuition receivables, which is highly impactful because 90% of school funding comes from tuition.
• See a 50% increase in aftercare revenue via automation.
• Reduce month-end closure by 75% from 90-120 days to 30 days.
• Re-establish board and finance committee confidence.
• Gain additional insights on reserves planning and cybersecurity.

What’s next? Market research and planning for a teacher training and tutoring center. Pete Pullen, Head of School, added, “We’re a program that never stops incorporating the latest neuroscience and learning techniques to move our students forward. With Wipfli’s support of our financial priorities, I have significantly more time to focus on our students’ success and academic future.”