A historic independent school in Devon, getting new finance staff up to speed fast with iFinance
West Buckland School is an independent day and boarding school set in the Devon countryside, with a long history of educating students from the Southwest and beyond. Like many independent schools, its finance team is small but expected to deliver fast, accurate answers – which means new starters need to get up to speed on the school’s finance system quickly.
When Sophia Williams took on responsibility for finance at West Buckland School, she had little time for a gradual handover. The role needed filling rapidly, and with it came a finance system she needed to learn under pressure.
“I had to take on the role quite rapidly, so it was really important to me that I could pick up the system quickly.”
Sophia’s background as an auditor meant she was no stranger to learning new systems on the job – but iFinance’s structured onboarding made the transition considerably smoother.
Getting up to speed with the iFinance Academy
Stepping into a finance role at speed leaves little room for a slow induction. For Sophia, the iFinance Academy – introduced to her early on – became the bridge between her existing audit experience and the specifics of West Buckland’s new system.
Rather than learning by trial and error, Sophia had a structured resource to fall back on – helping her build confidence with the system’s core processes while still managing a full workload.
“As an ex-auditor, I’m used to moving around different systems, but the iFinance Academy, which I was introduced to quite early on, was really helpful in getting over those first few humps of learning the system.”
Q&A at ISBA 2026 with Sophia Williams - Finance, West Buckland School
Q&A at ISBA 2026 with Sophia Williams - Finance, West Buckland School
Hear directly from former auditor Sophia Williams, who made the switch to iFinance, and discover why it’s become an essential tool for independent school finance teams.
User permissions that keep audits moving – without slowing Sophia down
One of the features Sophia has come to rely on most is iFinance’s ability to set up different types of system users. It’s particularly valuable when West Buckland’s external auditors visit the school.
“The feature I’ve found most valuable while working at West Buckland School in iFinance is the ability to have different types of users – especially when our auditors come in.”
Instead of fielding every audit request personally, Sophia can configure auditors as restricted audit users – giving them the access they need without exposing the wider system, and without pulling her away from her own responsibilities. It’s a simple piece of configuration that keeps audits running smoothly while protecting both data and time.
Multi-company and intercompany reporting, built for growth
As schools and education groups expand – whether through new sites, subsidiaries, or trading entities – finance teams need systems that can grow with them. iFinance’s multi-company functionality is designed with exactly that in mind, and it’s a capability Sophia sees as increasingly important across the sector.
“At the moment, we have the ability to set up different companies on iFinance, and they have the intercompany ability to look at each other and work together, which is really handy for consolidation and great for growth.”
Multiple companies can be set up within the same iFinance environment, each able to view and interact with the others. For consolidation – pulling together accounts across entities for group-level reporting – this removes a layer of manual work that would otherwise fall to the finance team.
Sophia sees this as more than a convenience. With school groups becoming more common, the ability to manage related entities within one system, rather than juggling separate platforms, is fast becoming a sector-wide expectation.
“That’s been a fast and rapid-approaching movement in our sector.”
“I’m able to set them up as audit users, which limits what they can do while still giving them enough accessibility that I don’t have to do everything myself and stop my day-to-day role.”
A finance system that keeps pace with the sector
For Sophia, iFinance has done more than help her get up to speed in a new role under pressure. It’s given her the structure to manage audits efficiently, protect her own time, and stay ahead of a sector that’s moving quickly towards more complex, multi-entity reporting needs.
About iFinance
iFinance is iSAMS’s purpose-built school accounting software for independent schools – designed around the way bursars and finance teams actually work. Key capabilities include:
User permissions and audit access – set up restricted, role-specific access for auditors and other external users
Multi-company and intercompany reporting – manage related entities within a single environment, ideal for groups and growing school structures
Consolidation tools – bring multi-entity accounts together for group-level reporting without manual data manipulation
iFinance Academy – structured onboarding and training to help new finance staff get up to speed quickly, even under time pressure
Seamless iSAMS integration – student and parent/guardian data flows automatically between iFinance and the iSAMS MIS, removing duplicate entry and manual reconciliation