When referring to the key role that accountants and finance managers play across Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently remarked that these are the people that ‘keep the lights on’, so that every employee can do their job to the best of their ability.
In our context, this phrase, ‘Keeping The Lights On’ (or KTLO for the millennials among us), may refer to the Bursar, Business Manager or Finance team members that we pass in the hallway or share lunch with each day in our SCEA schools.
While this phrase seems to simplify the role that Business Managers and Finance team members play, the truth is that the work undertaken is critical to the successful operation of SCEA.
What you may not be aware of is that each year, SCEA contracts external accountants to conduct an audit to ensure all of our finances are in order, that all the sums add up, and those giant Excel spreadsheets do not contain any exclamation marks (!)
This lengthy process was recently finalised for the 2020 year and resulted in SCEA being granted a ‘clean bill of health’ on the financial front yet again. Given the complexities around 2020’s COVID-19 scenario and the nearly 400 new students joining SCEA schools in the past twelve months, this is an excellent result.
Special thanks to Mr Rowan Joubert, our Chief Financial Officer, who leads the Finance team at SCEA and also to the Business Managers in each of our SCEA schools.
If you see your Business Manager or Finance team members today, be sure to echo the words of our Prime Minister and express your appreciation for their hard work:
“Thanks for keeping the lights on!”