The Real Cost for a School Bursary Using Large Excel Database to Help Manage the Schools Finances:
A quick real-world example:
- 2 people
- 3 hours per day each spent on manual Excel work
→ Total: 6 hours/day of manual work - Work happens on ~250 working days per year (standard UK full-time calendar)
- People are on an average accounting salary
A reasonable average accounting salary for the UK:
Average Accounting Salary (UK)
- A junior/mid accounting role: £28,000–£35,000 per year
→ We’ll use £32,000 as a midpoint - With typical employer national insurance, pension, and overheads (about ~20–25%)
→ Fully burdened cost to company ≈ £38,000 per person per year
If you want this calculated for a different salary level, just use this calculation and change the numbers.
If the Bursar or CEO is working 3 hours a day in Excel then you can easily increase these workings.
Step-by-Step Calculation
1. Hourly Cost per Person
- £38,000 ÷ 1,920 work hours/yr (8 hours × 240 days) ≈ £19.80 per hour
2. Hours Spent on Excel Work Annually
- 6 hours/day × 250 days = 1,500 hours/year
3. Total Annual Cost
- 1,500 hours × £19.80 ≈ £29,700 per year
So, the finance team is effectively spending about £29,700 annually of labour just on manual Excel work.
Forget how much it costs, What This Really Means is
That cost reflects just the time they spend updating spreadsheets — not counting:
- Errors and rework
- Delays in reporting
- Opportunity cost of not doing higher-value work
- Lost productivity and stress
- Risk of financial mistakes
So the true business cost is likely much higher.
Quick Summary
- Team size - 2 finance staff
- Daily manual Excel time - 6 hours
- Working days/year - 250
- Total hours/year - 1,500
- Average loaded hourly cost - £19.80
Estimated annual cost ~£29,700
