20-school MAT, STEP Academy Trust, selects Sage Intacct for Education to modernise finance, digitise procurement, and lay the foundation for scalable, future-ready operations.

ION, a leading provider of cloud-based financial management solutions, is delighted to announce its partnership with STEP Academy Trust, a successful and fast-growing Multi-Academy Trust comprising 20 primary schools and two Pupil Improvement Facilities across London and Sussex.

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ABOUT STEP ACADEMY TRUST

Founded in 2011, STEP Academy Trust is a 20-school MAT, driven by its mission to improve the life chances of all children. The Trust operates with a unified approach which delivers consistency across all academies and ensures access to the highest standards of education. As the Trust continues to grow, ensuring operational alignment and financial visibility across all schools has become a key priority.

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PREVIOUS SYSTEM CHALLENGES

STEP Academy Trust were previously using PS Financials as their financial management system. However, the setup of the system had failed to keep pace with the Trust’s development leading to several challenges:

• With each school onboarded differently, the Trust struggled with a lack of standardisation, inconsistent reporting structures, and limited visibility.
• Requisitions remained spreadsheet-based and emailed, with no audit trail.
• A manual paper-based purchase-to-pay workflow was proving to be inefficient and time consuming.
• Simple administrative tasks, such as adding new schools, required support requests that proved to be costly and time consuming as the Trust continued to expand.

Reporting was also a key challenge for the Trust. The finance team had little to no flexibility to customise reports or build new ones within the system, forcing heavy reliance on Excel to extract meaningful insights. Combined with a lack of integration with budgeting and MIS systems, the result was a time-consuming, inefficient finance function that offered limited support for strategic decision making.

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THE SOLUTION: SAGE INTACCT FOR EDUCATION

After reviewing the market, STEP Academy Trust chose to partner with ION to implement Sage Intacct for Education, a best-in-class cloud finance solution built specifically for the needs of Multi-Academy Trusts. This move will consolidate multiple transformation goals into a single project, including the adoption of the DfE Chart of Accounts and the digitalisation of the Trust’s P2P process.

Sage Intacct for Education will address STEP’s key challenges by delivering:

• True-Cloud Infrastructure: Removing the need for legacy infrastructure and enabling seamless access and updates.
• Digitised P2P Workflow: Including delegated approvals, PDF POs via email, audit trails, and the ability to attach supporting documentation.
• Customisable Reporting and Dashboards: Giving the Trust the ability to create, customise, and automate reports without the need for external contractors or reliance on Excel.
• Self-Service Administration: Enabling STEP to add and manage schools internally within seconds to support growth and remove ongoing consultation fees.

This project will not only modernise the Trust’s finance operations but also lay the foundation for future scalability, data-driven decision-making, and more efficient support of its school communities.

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“We’re proud to welcome STEP Academy Trust to our growing community of forward-thinking MATs,” said Rob Mathieson, CEO of ION. “Their decision to partner with ION reflects a clear commitment to operational excellence, and we’re excited to deliver a system that gives their team the tools, insight, and confidence they need to grow and thrive.”

As STEP Academy Trust embarks on this next phase of its journey, ION is proud to support them in achieving operational alignment, financial clarity, and ultimately, improved life chances for every pupil across the Trust.

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About STEP Academy Trust

STEP Academy Trust is a Multi-Academy Trust operating 20 primary schools and two Pupil Improvement Facilities across London and Sussex. With a mission to improve the life chances of all children, STEP operates as one organisation united by its values and consistent approach — the STEP Way.

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About ION

Founded in 2016, ION has become the CFOs’ choice for technology. Its team of specialists works with education, mid-market, and private equity-backed organisations to implement powerful financial technologies, enabling the vertical integration and automation of billing, payments, revenue recognition, and accounting.

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