Foreword

Housing Association Finance is produced on the joint initiative of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and the National Housing Federation and is published as part of CIPFA's TISonline service.

It is intended that this guide serve as a reference source for all housing association finance practitioners, and others concerned with their finance including board members. It will also be relevant to suppliers of financial services to housing associations including auditors, accountants and solicitors, and to those who work in local authorities and other bodies specifically concerned with housing associations.

This guide is written and updated by an editorial board of volunteer authors comprising persons in senior positions in the housing association sector, each taking responsibility for the production and updating of a particular section or part of a section. Thus it is intended that each section is written and reviewed by a practitioner with an eye to what other practitioner readers might require. The content is regularly updated. The date at the top of the section refers to the month that the particular section is updated. See the Editorial Board page for details of the current board members.

CIPFA's TISonline services produces two further information streams that are relevant to the social housing sector: Housing Associations and RSLs VAT and Local Authority Housing. These three titles form a popular online service package vital to practitioners working in a social housing context. To subscribe or for further details contact tisonline@cipfa.org.

If you are interested in participating in the production of material for this publication, or if you have any comments on the contents, format or coverage, please contact:

Any comments are welcome as the editorial board depends on feedback in planning improvements to the publication.

The Federation is the voice of social housing, being the body that represents the independent social housing sector with around 1,400 non-profit housing organisations currently in membership, between them owning or managing about 1.8 million homes.

The Federation produces a wide range of publications complementary to this Manual, covering legislation, best practice and research data. Details of all these publications can be obtained from the Federation's publications department.

For further details of any Federation services please contact:

CIPFA is the leading professional accountancy body for public services, whether in the public or private sectors, providing education and training in accountancy and financial management, and sets and monitors professional standards. CIPFA's professional qualification is high quality, relevant and practical, and is supported by a range of other products and services.

CIPFA regards housing associations as an important part of its activities and has consequently established a Housing Panel which advises its Technical Committee on issues relating to housing association finance. Also, appropriate papers in CIPFA's professional examinations have been identified as being sector specific. Housing associations are one of those sectors and the Federation recommends the CIPFA qualification as being appropriate to housing association finance staff.

CIPFA also provides a Technical Enquiry Service (sometimes referred to as the 'helpdesk') to assist its members and students in whatever sector they may be employed. For further details please contact: