Streamlining School Lunch Fee Payment Operations through DX (Digital Transformation) Following Public Accounting Integration

As the transition to public accounting for school lunch fees progresses nationwide, local governments are facing challenges in managing accounting tasks such as payments, reconciliation, and monthly aggregation, which tend to concentrate during specific periods, straining limited administrative resources and making it difficult to ensure accuracy. In response, Kita Ward, Tokyo (Mayor: Kanako Yamada) has adopted the "Food Procurement Payment Outsourcing Scheme" provided by NTT Finance Corporation (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Shozo Ito; hereinafter "the Company") to handle payments for food procurement costs associated with the transition to public accounting for school lunch fees, scheduled for April 2026. The service is slated to begin on May 1, 2026. This scheme will level out the workload of payment and accounting tasks that increase with public accounting, supporting operational efficiency at schools and the Board of Education, while ensuring more appropriate and stable accounting processes. ■ Common Challenges for Local Governments Emerging from Public Accounting Integration The transition to public accounting for school lunch fees is a significant institutional reform aimed at reducing the administrative burden on school staff and improving the transparency and appropriateness of accounting by having local governments take over the collection and management of these fees. However, even after the transition, there are ongoing issues that require attention, such as the concentration of payment-related tasks, the establishment of procedures and check systems, and the standardization of data management methods. In particular, the following points are commonly observed across many local governments: ・Handling large volumes of invoice verification and payment processing ・Maintaining stable operations with limited personnel ・Reducing reliance on specific individuals and ensuring work quality ■ Reasons for Kita Ward's Adoption of the Service With the transition to public accounting, Kita Ward anticipated the emergence of new processing requirements for invoices related to food procurement costs for 44 municipal schools (estimated at approximately 450 invoices per month). As the Board of Education centralizes accounting tasks, there were concerns regarding the concentration of payment procedures and the increased workload for verification and aggregation tasks. Given this background, Kita Ward prioritized: ・Operational design that maintains stability even with limited staffing ・A mechanism that standardizes verification, aggregation, and reconciliation processes while ensuring the accuracy of accounting Consequently, the ward adopted the Company's service, which provides an outsourcing scheme for payment operations and data management. ■ Features of the Scheme ・Reduction of workload through centralization of payment operations By having the Company act as an agent for payments to food suppliers, the Board of Education can complete its tasks with a single monthly payment process. This suppresses the concentration of daily payment and reconciliation tasks, aiming to level out the administrative workload. ・Improvement of processing accuracy through standardized data management Based on linked invoice data, the Company supports the preparation of forms and CSV data, contributing to improved accuracy in accounting by stabilizing input, transcription, and aggregation tasks. ・Operational design aligned with public accounting The service supports monthly data aggregation and centralized management, balancing the standardization of verification procedures in line with local government workflows with easy-to-manage operations. It supports stable operation in accordance with institutional requirements.