EVENTS

As chair of IFAC’s Professional Accountants in Business Committee, I’m delighted that CIPFA is making our recent publication Competent and Versatile available to public sector people in the UK.

This short paper explains the advantages that the professionally qualified accountant can bring to any organisation, and points to the skills and attitudes that employers will expect from us.

I should explain that within IFAC the term ‘Professional Accountant in Business’ (PAIB for short) embraces accountants in all roles other than delivering audit and assurance in public practice. What we have written applies to public sector accountants, who are engaged in the business of government, as much as to those in the corporate world. Some features of the public sector are sufficiently different to warrant specialised approaches, for example the role of politicians in governance or the existence of non-exchange transactions. But in almost all matters of general financial management, public and private sector accountants need to follow the same principles and apply the same good practice. So, while this document has a strong flavour of the business world, it is absolutely relevant – and has important messages – for the public sector too.

The strength of Competent and Versatile is that it was developed internationally, so its perspectives can be applied in a world where business is global and governments’ actions have global consequences. I commend it to you.

Should this interest you, you may also find the PAIB Committee publications on Principles-based International Good Practice Guide helpful. They can be found here.

Roger Tabor
Chair
Professional Accountants in Business Committee
International Federation of Accountants
(and a Past President of CIPFA)

Innovations - a review
Chief Financial Officers and their teams need to be alert to new options for increasing non grant funding. This briefing brings together the findings of recent reports that suggest ways for public service organisations to innovate and access new funding streams. References to further information are signposted.

Click here to download the pdf

Cornerstone guidance series
A series of guidance on key topics in financial management giving organisations the essential tools to drive down costs and achieve efficiencies.

Better Benchmarking for High Performance
Not only does benchmarking tell an organisation how it performs, but also how much better it should perform. As the squeeze on the public finances tightens, money must go further.

The Performance Pulse: Managing Performance to Achieve Strategic Outcomes
This guide is intended to help senior decision makers and managers across the public services to design or redesign their organisations’ performance management systems.

Counting Costs: Understanding and Using Costing Information to Make Better Decisions
Over the next few years organisations face hard choices about what services will be provided and how to fund them. Costing is an important discipline in all organisations - done well it providespowerful insights to support decision taking. Two short briefing notes are included in the publication with case studies showing how organisations have used costing information to supportdecision making and how the organisation’sleadership can create a cost conscious culture:

• Creating a Cost Conscious Culture
• Making Costing Count – Improvement Actions for Council Managers

Additional copies can also be downloaded for wider circulation.

International resources

IFAC Knowledgenet
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) KnowledgeNet is an innovative search engine that lets you access authoritative information by searching the websites of participating IFAC Member Bodies. www.ifacnet.com

The CIPFA FM Model: Assessment of Financial Management in Public Service Organisations – Statements of Good Practice (2010)
Good financial management is a key corporate discipline and a feature of successful organisations. Applying the CIPFA FM Model will help ensure robust financial management arrangements, shaped to support your organisation in challenging times ahead.

This is the third iteration of the CIPFA FM Model and it has been tailored for the harsher financial climate in which the public services must now operate. There is a clear emphasis on risk management through change, transactional efficiency and productivity, collaborative working, the commercial acumen of finance staff – and, following the Iceland banking trauma – on treasury management, with a relentless focus on priorities, costs and income to drive out further savings both within and between organisations. Click here for more details.