Education - Mazars - Netherlands

Knowing what is going on within the sector

The Netherlands is increasingly becoming a knowledge-based economy and this has a direct impact on the way in which the education and business sectors are organised. It is essential that the quality of education meets the demand from the business sector for highly-educated personnel with a high level of knowledge. Significant changes (in organisation and structure) are therefore needed in most educational institutions in order to ensure that they operate as efficiently and effectively as possible and achieve the maximum focus possible on their primary role of teaching. As a result, further professionalisation will be required in all parts of the education sector. The issues currently facing the sector include the introduction of lump-sum financing in primary education, which is increasing the focus on financial control in organisations; the far-reaching increases in scale in secondary education as a result of mergers in particular; and the ongoing debates with municipal authorities about premises.

All of these processes distract from the core tasks, which is precisely what educational institutions do not need at the current time. Mazars can support you in tackling these issues by offering assistance relating to organisational, taxation and legal matters and financial administration. This support will give you the time and space you need to focus on your role as an educator.

Staying up-to-date

We can offer a wide range of services thanks to our detailed knowledge of the educational sector. Alongside our extensive experience, we also have a network of relevant contacts at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, administrative authorities, institutions etc. that enables us to access the relevant first-hand knowledge about developments in the sector.

The expertise of the Group includes the following areas:

• Annual accounts (auditing and compiling)
• Annual accounts (RJ 660)
• Budget checks
• ESF subsidies
• Advice relating to management issues and governance
• Advice relating to internal control procedures
• Advice about how to organise the management information system (planning and control cycle)
• Advice on capital positions
• Advice on risk management
• VAT issues
• Remuneration structure
• Benchmarking
• Sounding board regarding decentralisation