University of Oxford Slashes £55,000 in Audit Fees and Secures FRS 102 Compliance with FinQuery
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Industry
Higher Education
Location
Oxford, United Kingdom
Leases
50 leases under FRS 102
The Challenge: Accounting for Leases with a Spreadsheet Posed Many Risks and Hidden Fees
This change requires the University to convert approximately 50 operational leases into finance leases. The team got a preview of this challenge in 2024, when they acquired their first finance lease.
Louise Lipsham, Head of Capital Accounting, described the situation:
“The spreadsheet was huge …and the thought of having 50 different spreadsheets that could go wrong filled my heart with dread. Also in that first year when we did use Excel, our auditors charged us an additional £55,000 just to audit that one spreadsheet. So there was obviously an economical reason to have something more substantial that was easier for our auditors to audit.”
The University needed a solution that offered robust internal controls, data integrity, and a way to avoid extra audit fees ahead of the FRS 102 compliance deadline.
The Solution: Using LeaseQuery Powered by FinQuery to Centralise their Lease Data
Internal Controls:
Unlike Excel, FinQuery offered a strict approval system, ensuring a clear audit trail of who made changes and why.
AI Functionality:
Proprietary AI reads lease documents to auto-populate critical data fields, reducing time spent on manual entry and eliminating errors.
Audit Access:
The ability to grant auditors read-only access to the system.
The Implementation Process
The Results:
The University of Oxford’s experience demonstrates that “free” tools like Excel often carry hidden costs—in this case, a £55,000 audit surcharge. By proactively implementing dedicated software before their regulatory deadline, the University eliminated unnecessary fees and stress with a solution that satisfied their auditors and secured their financial data.
Their transition to a software delivered immediate returns:
- Time Savings: The automated schedules for each lease enables monthly postings and reconciling with period ending totals to be quick, easy, and accurate.
- Audit Efficiency: Granting auditors direct access to the system saves everyone time and stress. The auditors are able to evaluate the system’s calculations without the heavy manual lifting required for the spreadsheet resulting in £55,000 cost avoidance in the first external audit using FinQuery.
- Strategic Forecasting: The solution has “revolutionised budgeting” for the finance lease area. The team can now accurately forecast liabilities and run test scenarios for potential new leases.
- Confidence in Compliance: The system successfully flagged the difference between operational and finance leases, providing assurance that the University is accounting for assets correctly ahead of the 2026 HE SORP changes.
“It’s quicker, it’s easier for [our auditors] to audit because all the documents are in one place… If there are any direct costs that are going on to the asset value, we upload those so our auditors don’t have to ask us any questions. Everything is there for them in one place and which they appreciate and I appreciate because it frees up me and my team to do other audit queries.”