Managing Financial Resources To Deliver Public Services
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Managing financial resources to deliver public services
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
language: en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date: 2008-02-20
This report examines the management of financial resources to deliver better public services effectively. Divided into four parts, with appendices, it looks at the following areas: Part 1: The importance of managing financial resources; Part 2: Developing the skills and awareness necessary for effective financial resource management; Part 3: Improving departments' use of techniques and practices for managing financial resources; Part 4: The impact of improved management and financial resources. Financial rsource management is relevant to every aspect of a Government department's business. By 2010-11, central government spending is forecast to grow to £678 billion, which represents £11,000 for every person in the UK. The NAO has set out a number of findings and recommendations, including: that the lack of financial skills and awareness amongst non-finance staff remains a significant barrier to improving the management of financial resources across government; that some departments lack a qualified Finance Director at Board level; that senior managers in many departments are not provided with incentives to promote sound management of financial resources; that Departments could do more to improve their forecasting capabilities; that some Departments are not sufficiently well placed to integrate financial and operational performance information; that many Departments do not always ensure the full assessment of the financial implications of policy proposals.
Managing Financial Resources to Deliver Better Public Services
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
language: en
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Release Date: 2008
Annually, central government spends some £558 billion, and this is forecast to increase to £678 billion by 2010-11. Strong and competent financial resources management is central to departments meeting their objectives cost effectively and delivering public services which represent value for money. Since the Committee's last report on this topic (HC 181, 25th report of session 2003-04, ISBN 9780215023636) the number of qualified finance directors with a seat on the departmental board has increased, enhancing the focus on financial performance at senior management level, but the lack of financial skills and awareness amongst non-finance staff remains a barrier to improving financial management more generally across government. Accruals-based accounting and budgeting systems are helping some departments identify under-utilised assets and dispose of those no longer required. Departments need to improve their forecasting capabilities to strengthen budgetary control and to avoid underspends not being identified early enough to reallocate resources to other priorities. Departments are continuing to spend less money than they forecast, particularly on capital projects, increasing the risk that resources are not being allocated across government in the most effective way. Few departmental boards are presented with accurate, timely and integrated financial and operational performance information to enable them to take sufficiently informed decisions on the use of resources and to review performance. Although the Treasury and Cabinet Office have a number of initiative to improve resource management, there is some way to go before financial management is fully embedded within departmental cultures.
International Public Financial Management
Running public sector organizations requires specialist accounting and finance skills to overcome the unique challenges of the sector. Citizens rely on their governments to provide a wide range of public services from an inevitably limited budget and therefore the better that the public money is managed the more services that can be delivered. Just as there is no single best way to manage a business there is no single best way to manage public finances. Co-published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), the world's leading professional public finance accountancy body, International Public Financial Management: Essentials of Public Sector Accounting provides an expert introduction to public sector accounting and finance. This book was conceived to accompany CIPFA’s International Public Financial Management (IPFM) qualifications as a resource for students that seeks to capture the essential elements of the modules they study, and reflects good practice as put forward by CIPFA in its examination syllabuses. Students of public management and public sector accounting will find this a useful text. Practitioners working in the public sector will also find this concise book vital reading in seeking value for money in providing public services.