2008 Annual Conference

Book your conference place online at www.cipfaconference.org.uk or contact margot.gallie@cipfa.org/020 7543 5675.

The 2008 CIPFA Conference will officially open with a keynote speech from John Healey MP, Minister of State for Communities and Local Government. As organisations across the public sector seek to address future constraints in public spending and rows erupt almost daily about the accountability of those in public office, speakers, including Public Accounts Committee Chairman Edward Leigh MP, Lord Coe and Sir Simon Milton, and concurrent sessions will address key issues including:

• Doing More with Less: how can public bodies rise from competence to excellence?
• Shared Services – lessons from accross the public sector
• Local Government Financial Reporting
• What Makes Organisations Successful?
• Lean Systems Thinking – seeing the big picture to improve small things
• District Council Finance Matters
• Local Strategic Partnerships and Comprehensive Area Assessments
• Role of the Finance Director
• Accountability in a Modern Democracy
• The 2012 Olympics and its Anticipated Legacy
• Emergency Planning – what price safety?
• International Seminar - Public Financial Management and Its Part in Improving Governance

Delegates will be able to speak to CIPFA experts on issues such as Practice Assurance and IFRS, as well as take advantage of invaluable networking opportunities.

The conference's fringe lecture will be delivered by the inimitable John Prescott MP who will be looking back on his time in politics and parliament.

Further and Higher Education Panel Response to HEFCE Memorandum

The Panel has submitted comments on the proposals for a revised financial memorandum issued by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), read it at www.cipfa.org.uk/pt/responses.cfm

Children's Services Panel Response to School Funding Proposals

The Panel is working on a revised Introductory Guide to Education Finance and preparing a further response to the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) proposals on the school funding arrangements.

Responses are available from the panel website at: www.cipfa.org.uk/panels/childrens_services

Further and Higher Education Response to Financial Memorandum Revisions

The Further and Higher Education Panel has submitted comments on the proposals for a revised financial memorandum issued by HEFCE. The response can be found at www.cipfa.org.uk/pt/responses.cfm. At the meeting, the Panel will be considering how it should respond to the following:

• Raising expectations: Enabling the System to Deliver (Department for Children, Schools and Families with Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills). The response will be drawn up in conjunction with the Children’s Services Panel.
• Innovation Nation (Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills).

Local Authority Accounting Panel Bulletins

The Local Authority Accounting Panel has issued three LAAP Bulletins offering guidance to practitioners:

• LAAP 71 - The Annual Governance Statement
• LAAP 72 - Accounting for Premiums and Discounts in the 2007/08 Accounts on Transition to the 2007 SORP Requirements
• LAAP 73 - Closure of the 2007/08 Accounts and Use of Resources Assessments:

Available from www.cipfa.org.uk/pt/laap.cfm

CIPFA Social Care Finance Conference: Southampton, 26-27 June 2008

CIPFA’s Social Care and Children’s Services Panels present a new concept for this conference.

Both adult social care finance and children’s services finance teams will have their own areas of policy and development catered for as two streams are offered over this two-day event.

By bringing the audience together for the opening and closing sessions, as well as all social breaks, the areas of shared interest and networking can be fully explored, while the separate sessions allow each ‘stream’ to focus on area-specific topics for the rest of the programme. Delegates are free to chose which ever sessions they find most appropriate or interesting, can ‘mix and match’ sessions, and need not remain within their own ‘sector’.

Find out more and book on the CIPFA shop.

LB of Barking and Dagenham are recruiting.
Click on the logo to find out more.

West Midlands Fire Service are recruiting.
Click on the logo to find out more.

Manchester City Council, are recruiting.
Click on the logo to find out more.

Top Marks in the 2007 Exams

CIPFA is delighted to announce the names of the top performing students in the 2007 exams:

• Lynda McCracken, West Lothian Council - Arthur Collins Memorial Medal
  (Best performance across both the Case Study and Strategic Business Management)
• Michael Duff, KPMG - Richard Emmott Memorial Prize
  (Best performance in the Case Study)
• Lynda McCracken & Michael Duff - Top awards for best performance at the Final Test of Professional Competence by students in Scotland
• Naomi Robinson, Leeds City Council - Eric Gilliland Memorial Prize
  (Best performance in Strategic Business Management)
• Mishaal Chauhan, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust - Employer sponsored NHS Prize (Best performances across both Final Test papers)
• Rochelle Duffy, Audit Commission - Employer sponsored Audit Commission Prize
  (Best performances across both Final Test papers)
• John Neilson, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Warwick/CIPFA fast track route)
  – 2nd place Case Study
• Katherine Bennett, PricewaterhouseCoopers – 2nd place Strategic Business Management
• Jennifer Stevens, Dudley MBC– 3rd place Case Study

Top students in Scotland at Certificate and Diploma level include:

• Richard McCallum, Angela Flynn and John Tyler from KPMG
• Laurence Slavin Louise Robertson and Ursula Lodge from Audit Scotland
• John Boyd from Scott Moncrieff
• Ed Foster at City of Edinburgh

Well done to all our Prize Winners and to all 2007 passed finalists. And thank you also to their employers for providing the environment in which such success can be achieved.

Revision Courses  

Have you booked your place on a CIPFA revision course? Many of our CIPFA Course Providers offer revision course that are open to all CIPFA students, whether they attend courses or not.

Revision courses provide an excellent opportunity for you to practice exam style questions and discuss any topics with which you may have been struggling. They are very popular with students and an invaluable study tool. You can book your place directly with your local CIPFA Course Provider.

Dates for courses at Nottingham Business School (NBS), Leeds Metropolitan University (Leeds Met) and CETC can be found at www.cipfa.org.uk/students/current/exam_revision.cfm along with contact details for these and all CIPFA Course Providers.

Governance – Making it Happen
21 May 2008, The Hilton Hotel, Templepatrick

CIPFA Northern Ireland is delighted to welcome Sir Robert Smith, Chair of the Weir Group and author of the Combined Code Guide for Audit Committees (The Smith Report), as the keynote speaker at this important seminar. In his presentation, Sir Robert will discuss the evolving role of the Audit Committee and developments since the publication of his report.

Other key speakers at the event include: Jane Bloodworth, Head of the Internal Audit Division, DEFRA; Keith Wade, founder and Director of CATS International; Brandon McMaster, Director of the NIAO’s Value for Money Division; and Detective Inspector Sam Sittlington, PSNI Economic Crime Bureau.

Public Training Courses

Do you work for a CPD Accredited Employer?

Working for an employer who has gained accreditation for CPD purposes means that you do not need to complete CIPFA’s CPD plans and records. The staff development/performance appraisal scheme operated by your employer will be accepted in their place. Members are still required to annually declare to CIPFA that they have met their CPD requirements over the previous 12 months. If a member is randomly selected to share evidence of their CPD, they will be expected to submit the accredited employer scheme documents for the most recently completed year. If the employer’s scheme does not require you to gather supporting evidence, verification from a line manager to confirm activities were undertaken will be acceptable.

For details on how to apply to become an accredited employer please visit www.cipfa.org.uk/clc and go to Accreditation Routes.

CIPFA Learning Centre Surgeries – Just the Remedy!

The first CLC surgeries held have provided the remedies that members needed. Members said the one to one appointments were very useful and they found the website easy to navigate. For details of further surgery dates and how to book an appointment please visit www.cipfa.org.uk/clc and click on CPD News.

Living in the North East and Interested in a Volunteering Role?

An accountant, with an interest in local and family history, especially those aspects involving military history and the recording of War Memorials, is needed to replace the current Treasurer of this Registered Charity, who will be retiring in a few months time.

Find out more at www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=4&articleid=44

More Responsive Public Services? A Guide to Commissioning Migrant and Refugee Community Organisations

Written by John Perry and A. Azim El-Hassan for The Housing Associations' Charitable Trust (hact) and published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the guide helps commissioners, migrant and refugee community organisations (MRCOs) and the bodies that support them, to deliver services that meet the needs of refugees and new migrants, while simultaneously promoting the role of MRCOs. It includes chapters on accommodation and related support, housing related support through Supporting People, providing integration and employment services to refugees, legal aid services, access to healthcare services for young people, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) and job-related training.

Purchase a hard copy or download a free PDF of the guide from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's bookshop: www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/details.asp?pubID=941  

Taking Forward the Fight Against Fraud

The National Audit Office, HM Treasury and the British Bankers’ Association are holding a conference on Taking Forward the Fight Against Fraud which will held at 2 Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL on 24 and 25 June. Details of the conference including a booking form is on the National Audit Office's website at www.nao.org.uk and the British Bankers' Association website at  www.bba.org.uk (conferences and training). 

The first day of the conference will cover the significant steps taken to strengthen the fight against all types of fraud in the UK – the Attorney General’s Fraud Review and the Government’s response are putting in place an enhanced strategic approach and dedicated resources to tackle the effects of fraud both on individuals and on the UK economy.  The sessions will not only look at this new framework and explain what it will mean for stakeholders but it will also give an opportunity to look in detail at what this means for central and local government.

Day two of the conference will highlight good practices in tackling external fraud and will launch an updated version of the National Audit Office/ HM Treasury guide on the subject. The sessions will also draw on  the lessons from recent NAO reports.

Grant-Funding in the Public Sector - various, next: 29 May, Cardiff more

Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom: A Statement of Recommended Practice – Disclosure Checklist for 2007/2008 Accounts (2008) This annual publication is firmly established as an absolute must for finance practitioners in local authorities and external audit agencies in England, Scotland and Wales. Coverage of the additional financial instruments disclosures - required for the first time in 2007/2008 – will make the checklist even more valuable to practitioners and auditors.
Book - CD-ROM