Keith Wilde joined Kingfisher Learning Trust in July 2025, overseeing finance operations across seven schools, including both mainstream primaries and specialist settings. Unlike many working within education finance, Keith came from a corporate accountancy and business background, bringing with him experience from accounting practice and the IT sector.

That experience gave him a different lens through which to evaluate finance systems and operational efficiency.

“I came into education expecting some differences,” Keith explains. “But what really surprised me was how much manual processing still existed across the sector. In the corporate world, automation and integrated systems are standard. In education, many teams are still spending huge amounts of time on repetitive administrative tasks.”

Joining the trust during a major transformation period, Keith found himself learning both the outgoing legacy systems and the new Access platform simultaneously, while also supporting school business managers through implementation and training. Despite the scale of change, the impact of moving to Access became clear very quickly.

Moving away from legacy systems immediately improved usability and visibility for the trust’s finance teams.

“The difference in layout and usability was huge,” says Keith. “The previous system felt dated and unintuitive. With Access, it is much more obvious where things are, how to navigate, and how to access the information you need.”

Using Access Education Finance and Access Education Budgets, the trust has been able to streamline reporting, simplify financial management and create stronger visibility across schools.

For Keith, one of the biggest advantages has been the ability to move finance teams away from firefighting and towards more strategic work.

“Before Access, finance processes across the trust were heavily manual and often reactive. Management accounts were frequently rushed, reporting cycles were time pressured and finance teams spent valuable time chasing paperwork rather than analysing data and supporting strategic decisions.” 

“By freeing up administrative time, we can spend more time analysing information properly, preparing management accounts earlier and answering questions proactively rather than reactively.”

The impact goes beyond simple time savings.

“It creates a ripple effect across the whole trust,” he explains. “If invoice processing becomes faster and more automated, business managers gain more time. That then frees me up to focus on higher-level strategic finance work. The benefit moves right through the organisation.”

One area where the trust expects particularly significant gains is through Access Education Purchasing.

Previously, invoice management and coding processes were heavily manual, creating unnecessary pressure on finance teams and increasing the risk of inconsistencies between schools.

“We had large amounts of manual invoice inputting, paper filing and duplicated processes,” says Keith. “Different people would code things differently, which made central reporting harder and less consistent.”

With automated invoice processing and intelligent coding now being introduced, the trust expects to dramatically improve both efficiency and financial accuracy.

“It is not about reducing staff numbers,” Keith explains. “It is about giving people the time to focus on the work that genuinely adds value. Instead of spending hours processing invoices manually, they can focus on analysis, forecasting and strategic support.”

The benefits also extend to governance and audit readiness.

“Previously, finding supporting documentation during audits could be extremely time-consuming. Now, everything is linked digitally within the system. That is a massive improvement for both efficiency and accountability.”

For Keith, what truly differentiates Access is not just the software itself, but the partnership behind it.

During implementation, Keith raised several suggestions based on his experience with corporate finance systems. Rather than simply logging the feedback, the Access product team arranged direct conversations to understand the operational challenges in detail.

“I was genuinely surprised by how responsive they were,” Keith says. “I mentioned a potential improvement almost in passing, and within days I was speaking directly with the product team about how it could work. They listened, they explored the idea properly, and they started looking at how it could be incorporated.”
That level of collaboration stood out immediately.

“I have never worked with another software provider that has been that open and proactive with customer feedback. They do not just say they are listening. They genuinely action it.”

Keith also believes Access’s wider technology ecosystem gives the organisation a unique advantage within the education sector.

“Access has expertise across so many different industries and products. That means they can bring innovation from outside education into schools and trusts much faster than many competitors.”

• Reduced manual finance administration 
• Improved consistency across schools 
• Faster and more accurate reporting 
• Greater audit visibility and accountability 
• More strategic use of finance team time 
• Stronger trust-wide oversight 
• Future-ready roadmap with ongoing innovation 
• Improved user experience for school business managers

For Kingfisher Learning Trust, the journey with Access is only just beginning.

With further developments planned around fixed assets, AI-driven workflows and deeper system integration, Keith believes the platform will continue evolving into an even more powerful strategic tool for trusts.

“The exciting thing for me is not just where Access is now, but where it is going,” he says. “You can clearly see the roadmap, the investment and the innovation happening behind the scenes.”

For trusts looking to modernise finance operations, reduce pressure on teams and gain stronger strategic oversight, Keith believes the direction of travel is clear.

“Access is already a huge step forward from where we were previously, and they are continually improving. That gives us confidence that we are investing in a platform that will keep evolving alongside us.”

Discover how Access Education Finance, Access Education Budgets and Access Education Purchasing are helping schools, academies and trusts reduce workload, improve visibility and create more strategic finance operations.

Whether you are looking to streamline purchasing, simplify budgeting or modernise financial management across your organisation, Access Education provides the tools, partnership and innovation to help you move forward with confidence.