Customer story highlights

• Month-end close completed in ~4 working days, with institution-wide reporting by day 10.
• Finance service overheads reduced by ~20%.
• Consistently clean audits with full transparency and traceability.
• Full drill-down reporting enabling faster, data-led decision-making.
• Scalable finance platform supporting research, teaching, and growth.

About University of Exeter

The University of Exeter is a research-intensive Russell Group university with campuses in Exeter, Cornwall, in the South West of England. It delivers world-class teaching and research across a broad range of disciplines, contributing significantly to society through education, innovation, and discovery.

With a large and diverse financial footprint, including research grants, teaching income, and commercial activity, the University requires robust, transparent financial systems that support both operational efficiency and long-term strategic planning.

University of Exeter’s website

The challenge: Fragmented systems and limited financial clarity

Before implementing TechnologyOne Financials, the University of Exeter operated a decentralised financial model. Finance teams were dispersed across colleges, using multiple systems and locally managed processes.

While this reflected the University’s academic autonomy, it created challenges around consistency, data quality, and reporting.

“Before TechnologyOne, we had a lot of staff out in the colleges, a dispersed financial picture, a multitude of systems and processes, and a lot of local activity going on. It was a little bit messy, and at times chaotic,” said Joe Wall, Director of Finance at the University of Exeter

The previous finance system relied on a highly complex 52-character account code. While powerful in theory, it encouraged workarounds in practice.

“People ended up using a code they knew worked rather than one that would bounce back, even if it had the right intelligence. So, there was very poor data all around the shop,” Mr Wall said.

Compounding this challenge, the University also used separate systems for transactional processing and budgeting/forecasting, each with slightly different coding structures. Reconciling actuals with forecasts required extensive manual intervention.

“We had one system for processing invoices and purchase orders, and another for budgeting and forecasting,” Mr Wall said.

“From a management accounting perspective, it was hard work, especially trying to satisfy budget holders with defensible forecasts.”

The lack of an integrated system meant critical decisions were delayed due to unreliable data.

The results

Faster close, trusted data and better conversations

Month-end close is now completed in around four working days, and management accounts, including commentary, are published by day ten with full drill-down capability. Finance leaders can interrogate data directly, saving weeks of analysis time.

“By working day four or five, I’m already looking at the whole institution and starting to think about the story we need to tell,” Mr Wall said.

“Previously, by the time you saw a problem and analysed it, you were three or four weeks further down the track.”

Management accounts are published with commentary to the University by working day ten, supported by full drill-down capability and traceability built up from budget centre level reports and analysis. Finance leaders can now interrogate data directly, saving weeks of analysis time and enabling faster, more proactive decision-making.

Data accuracy and audit confidence

Transactions are now coded correctly at source, supported by structured workflows and approvals. External auditors have full read-only access, including approvals, attachments, and audit trails.

This has reduced audit pressure and strengthened confidence in published financial statements.

“We have not had any unadjusted issues or errors raised by our external auditors for at least the last five years,” Mr Wall said.

“They can see everything: who approved what, why it was approved, and all the backing documentation. The information is right the first time.

“The quality of our annual report is the ultimate litmus test. And it’s second to none.”

Efficiency and reducing overheads

As part of the broader Future Finance programme, the University was also able to simplify processes and restructure its finance function.

“We took out about 20 per cent of our finance services overhead directly because of implementing TechnologyOne,” Mr Wall said.

“We were coming from a very inefficient model, but the system enabled us to operate in a much leaner, more effective way.”

These efficiencies were achieved largely through natural turnover and process redesign, rather than disruption, creating a more sustainable operating model.

Faster reporting and stronger insight

Year-end reporting is now much faster: a full draft of accounts is ready by the end of week three, about 99% accurate, two to three times faster than before. Management reporting is largely automated, allowing staff to focus on analysis.

“We hit the button and out it comes,” Mr Wall said.

“There’s no manual collating. The reports are ready, and we just focus on the narrative.”

Looking ahead: insight, automation and smarter decision-making

With strong foundations in place, the University of Exeter is now focused on getting even more value from its financial data. Priorities include enhancing dashboards, improving end-user accessibility, and expanding automation, particularly around staffing costs linked to research projects.

As a research-intensive institution managing significant grant income and activity, accurate, first-time coding of staff costs is a key area of focus. The University is also exploring how to integrate additional data into TechnologyOne Financials to better understand the true cost of teaching and research.

Looking further ahead, the University sees analytics, real-time reporting, and AI-enabled insights as essential to making the most of its data and supporting informed decision-making at scale.

“We have a huge amount of insight available to us. Leveraging that effectively will be the difference between standing still and progressing as an institution,” Mr Wall said.

When asked whether the University of Exeter would recommend TechnologyOne Financials to others, Wall said “I would, and I have."

With confidence in the product, visible reinvestment, and a strong partnership approach, TechnologyOne Financials has enabled the University of Exeter to modernise finance operations and support its mission with efficiency and confidence.