Making the Most of Your Finance Committee – 20 January 2009, London
This event is aimed at finance committee members, finance practitioners and those involved in strategic and corporate finance issues in further and higher education. It will cover the following themes :
- Why a finance committee is needed
- The difference a finance committee can make ( case study )
- How the governing body can make the finance committee more effective
- Working with the finance director
- Good governance and real accountability
- Insight into the governor’s role in monitoring third party transactions.
For further details visit :
http://secure.cipfa.org.uk.cgi-bin/CIPFA.storefront/
Raising Expectations : Enabling the System to Deliver
The Further and Higher Education Panel jointly with CIPFA’s Children’s Services Panel has responded to the DCSF/DIUS white paper. CIPFA welcomes the aim set out in the foreword stating that the commissioning system should be as simple as possible. However, we are not convinced that the proposals contained in the consultation document will achieve that aim.
Revisions to the Financial Memorandum
CIPFA has commented on the HEFCE’s proposed changes to the Financial Memorandum and Audit Code of Practice. CIPFA believes that the document is better set out and more accessible than its predecessors and compiling one source of information is to be commended.
The full text of the Panel’s consultation responses can be found at http://www.cipfa.org.uk/panels/fehe/response.cfm
A Guide for Finance Committee Members in Further and Higher Education
The governing body has ultimate responsibility for a further or higher education institution’s finances, but delegates specific powers and processes to committees. These committees are accountable to the governing body. Monitoring and planning for the institution’s financial position and financial control systems is normally undertaken by a finance committee ( it may also may be known as a finance and general purposes or employment and finance committee ). Effective governance and financial management depends on good quality, timely and relevant information forming the basis for decision making, scrutiny and action planning. The role of the finance committee is key in ensuring that the governing body has adequate information to enable it to discharge its financial responsibilities and that the institution remains financially viable at all times.
This publication provides a practical source of guidance and advice for finance committee members in further and higher education. It will also be valuable to other governing body members who retain some financial responsibilities and to other interested parties. It describes finance committee members’ roles and responsibilities in detail and provides the context in which such committees operate.
There is emphasis throughout the guide on ‘questions to ask’ to help committee members to assess the effectiveness of their own committee. Answers to these questions will also form a useful basis for any future actions.
To purchase a copy visit :
http://secure.cipfa.org.uk/cgi-bin/CIPFA.storefront/EN/product/ED021
Financial Governance Evaluation Tool
To accompany the Guide for Finance Committee Members in Further and Higher Education, the Further and Higher Education Panel is developing a self evaluation financial governance tool. The tool is in the form of a checklist and ties in with the format of the guide. It takes into account other initiatives in the sector such as the LSC's Financial Management and Control Evaluation ( FMCE). The tool has been ‘road tested’ by the finance and resources committee at Oxford Brookes University The new checklist will include an explanatory note based on the experience at Oxford Brookes outlining how it should be used by both officers and finance governors. The financial governance tool will be completed shortly. For further information please see the Further and Higher Education Panel’s website at http://www.cipfa.org.uk/panels/fehe/
Improving Budgeting : Modernising the Cycle
The budget cycle is crucial to all organisations. CIPFA has taken a long and hard look at the budgeting, forecasting, monitoring and reporting arrangements in place in most public bodies to assess whether they are working well. The evidence is that improvements are needed. All financial processes need to be fundamentally reviewed from time to time and the budget cycle is no exception.
The financial environment is now moving towards medium – term three-year settlements for public services, with pressure for faster accounts closure, and a greater emphasis on efficiency, performance outcomes and value for money. The budget and reporting cycle needs to adapt as a tool to support these developments.
Improving Budgeting : Modernising the Cycle provides a practical way to improve this key financial process. Existing good practice and fresh approaches to budgeting are explained along with the sensible steps your organisation can take.
Rolling forecasts that are formally reviewed and updated each quarter are potentially a powerful tool. Looking ahead 18 months and integrating known financial outcomes with performance metrics, taken together with frequent re-forecasts and the analysis of underlying performance and financial trends, this approach allows organisations to see into the future as a rounded whole. Resources can be redirected at frequent intervals. Because known financial results are prepared each quarter the closure of the accounts for the current financial year is streamlined.
Amongst the potential benefits of this approach are better skilled managers who remain engaged with planning what the future will look like. They can gain a deeper understanding of the cost drivers and variables for their business area. For the organisation’s leaders the forecasts act as a tool for relating funds with the outcomes they purchase and the organisation is much better able to assess value for money.
To purchase a copy visit :
http://secure.cipfa.org/cgi-bin/CIPFA.storefront/EN/product/FM025
Resource Allocation Models in Further and Higher Education : A Compendium ( new edition )
In 1997, CIPFA published ‘Resource Allocation Models in Further and Higher Education : A Compendium’. It described a selection of existing resource allocation models from across the further and higher education sectors and contained a section which developed key themes and provided guidance and advice to be considered along side the examples. The Compendium illustrated that universities and colleges have adopted a wide variety of approaches to resource allocation and provided an excellent opportunity for practitioners to learn from others experiences.
Following the success of this publication, CIPFA’s Further and Higher Education Panel responsible for the original compendium agreed that a new study of resource allocation models in use in the further and higher education sector would be of significant interest to colleges and universities. In particular, the Panel wanted to see how the use of resource allocation models had evolved. For some institutions it is seen as a key strategic management tools. For others, it is a means to share out resources. The intention was to develop a publication which illustrates alternative models actually in use rather than prescribe the ‘best’ approach
The results of this second CIPFA study show how models have evolved and highlights issues that institutions in both the further education and higher education sectors may wish to take into account when developing their own models. It will enable them to compare and contrast the approaches used across a diverse range of institutions. In addition, the guide will help institutions to compare their own practise with that used in similar institutions.
The Compendium will be available in Spring 2009.
Further information on the Further and Higher Education Panel’s forthcoming guidance will be included in future editions of this bulletin. For information on all CIPFA’s publications, please visit the CIPFA shop at www.cipfa.org.uk/shop
No Train, No Gain by Stephen Court
The government is reaffirming the importance of training in the recession through both investment and legislation. But its ‘demand led’ packages have been criticised by employers and colleges.
This article was published in Public Finance November 14-20 2008. Stephen Court is senior research officer at the University and College Union. To access this article click here.
Learning to Walk Before We Try to Run : Adapting Lean for the Public Sector by Zoe Radnor and Paul Walley
This article considers whether public service organisations regard Lean merely as a set of tools and techniques without considering either the underlying conditions and principles or regard Lean as a philosophy. The authors analyse a series of case studies of Lean in the public sector around four themes – process-based view, focus on value, elimination of waste and employee-driven change – before considering the implementation approach taken and outcomes achieved. The outcomes were significant, but authors warn against an implementation approach which focuses on Lean tools.
Click here to download the article in PDF format
New Development : Creating a Lean University by Peter Hines and Sarah Lethbridge
Many articles have been published by academics in the past 20 years promoting the Lean approach to manufacturing and service industries. Little attention has been paid to the possible application of Lean Thinking to the institutions in which these articles are written. This article explains why the application of Lean in universities is a good idea and what needs to be done to develop an effective Lean enterprise in a university environment.
Click here to download the article in Word format.
The above two articles were first published in the February 2008 edition of Public Money and Management. Further information on Public Money and Management and
details of how to subscribe can be found at www.cipfa.org.uk/pt/pmm
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