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Back row: John Neilson, Lynda McCracken, Mishaal Chauhan, Michael Duff, Naomi Robinson
Front row: Jennifer McGregor, Katherine Bennett, John Butler, Rochelle Duffy
Exams are tough, but the sense of achievement (and relief) felt by those who have passed their final papers is clear on the faces of this group who completed their exams in 2007. These newly-qualifieds can be especially proud as they are the 2007 CIPFA Prizewinners. The top performing CIPFA students in the 2007 Final Test exams were invited to celebrate their success and to have their outstanding efforts formally honoured at this year’s Prizewinners’ Lunch, held at Robert Street.
Accompanied by family, employers and tutors who have been providing valuable support throughout their journey to becoming CIPFA qualified, the Prizewinners were welcomed to the Prizewinners Lunch with a champagne reception, before receiving their awards and meeting CIPFA President, John Butler.
CIPFA wish all our prizewinners and passed finalists every success for the future and look forward to next year when some of you reading this will join us as 2008 Prizewinners.
A second award ceremony took place on the 7th May to applaud the exceptional achievements of Andrew Cummings, winner of this years John Sandbach Memorial Prize. Andrew, who is employed by Waltham Forest LBC and studied at CETC South East, successfully completed his Diploma in June 2007 achieving the highest overall marks by a CETC student at the diploma level of CIPFA’s professional qualification.
Staff at the CIPFA Education and Training Centre are extremely proud of Andrew and all their prizewinning students and wish them every success in the future.
The Scottish CIPFA Students' Society organise events throughout the year for students to attend. Some of these events will focus on topical issues whilst others will be more study and exam based. The most recent event was held during May in Glasgow and reflected on "The new Scottish Government - One Year On'.
The Student Society recently arranged for CIPFA student Tom Reid, to shadow a Director of Finance for the day. Sandra Black, the Director of Finance at Renfrewshire Council kindly agreed to the shadowing exercise.
In September the Student Society are holding an event in Perth on the IPDS. An IPDS assessor will provide students with guidance on managing their IPDS throughout their training.
 Tom Reid (left) writes:
Earlier this year I was offered the opportunity by the CIPFA Scottish Students’ Society to shadow a high ranking officer in a public service of my choice. I chose local government and was paired up with Sandra Black (left), Director of Finance at Renfrewshire Council.
Sandra outlined the timetable for what would be a fairly typical day for a Director of Finance. Five meetings with staff from across all areas of the Council, covering an incredibly diverse range of items, made up the bulk of the day. I was struck by how little time there was to prepare for these meetings. Sandra explained that she is heavily reliant on her team to ensure she has all the relevant information at her disposal. Her personal assistant plays a vital role in filtering Sandra’s emails and physical mail to ensure she receives only key correspondence.
The remainder of the morning was taken up with the Corporate Management Team Meeting. This is held weekly, chaired by the Chief Executive and attended by all Directors of the Council. The meeting agenda items ranged from street cleansing to capital monitoring. I realised that as a Director of Finance it is important to have a detailed understanding of all functions of the Council. I was impressed with how effectively Sandra was able to identify the finance and budgetary issues surrounding each agenda item.
The first half of the afternoon was taken up with the monthly Education and Leisure Services Budget Monitoring Meeting swiftly followed by a Revenue and Benefits Management Meeting. Both were key meetings with the financial year drawing to a close and budgets and targets being formalised for the year ahead. In both meetings it became apparent that one of the key skills of a Director of Finance is to be able to effectively delegate tasks to the appropriate staff.
The Senior Management Team was the day’s final meeting. This is chaired by Sandra and attendees include all the managers within her central finance team. I was surprised at how wide an agenda this meeting had with items including freedom of information, IT development, and absence management.
My day in the life ended with a guided tour of the newly refurbished Council buildings, including the Council chambers.
Reflecting on the day, I have realised that as a Director of Finance you have to be able to look beyond the figures and have a detailed knowledge across all the Council services. The Director of Finance is heavily reliant on their staff to keep them up to speed on the key issues; there simply isn’t time to spend hours preparing for meetings. Effective delegation is a very important skill.
I thoroughly enjoyed my day and am very grateful to Sandra and the CIPFA Scottish Students’ Society for providing me with this opportunity. I would recommend the experience to my fellow CIPFA trainees.
If you are looking to commence your studies for the CIPFA qualification in the near future or if you are planning to sponsor a student to do so, and would like to discover what it is like to study with CETC, don’t forget to register for your nearest CETC open afternoon, taking place at centres throughout the UK this June.
You will be given the chance to hear presentations delivered by CETC Course Directors on what you can expect as a student and also by a CIPFA representative on the structure of the qualification, study methods and the benefits of becoming CIPFA qualified. A current student will also be offering a valuable insight into their experience of studying with CETC.
After the presentations there will also be an opportunity to ask questions and have an informal chat with our dedicated team of tutors.
The open afternoons are free and available for existing open learning students and employers to attend too. They will take place between 16:00 and 18:00 on the following dates:
- CETC Midlands - Wednesday 11th June in Birmingham
- CETC Wales and West of England - Thursday 12th June in Bristol
- CETC East Scotland - Monday 23rd June in Edinburgh
- CETC South East – Tuesday 24th June in London
Just call 020 7403 4300 or email Lauren.smalley@cetc.org.uk for more information. For more information on CIPFA call 020 7543 5678 or on CETC call 020 7403 4300.
 ensure you’re booked on the free 1 day Conference which is being held in on Thursday
3rd July 2008 Manchester this year.
If you haven’t booked your place for this year’s NSF Conference, you can do so now via the Student Learning Centre. Places are limited!
Has one of your lecturers or trainers shown a special level of dedication and enthusiasm to supporting you through your studies? Show your appreciation and nominate them for the Excellence in Education award, the winner of which will be announced at the NSF Conference.
Include in your nomination the following information:
- Name and job title of the lecturer/trainer and the college they work at
- Their e-mail address
- A short piece (no more than one side of A4) explaining how they meet the following criteria:
- teaching excellence
- student support (both tutorial and pastoral)
- commitment to the CIPFA course
Emails should be sent to rebecca.bazeley@cipfa.org and must be received by 13 June 2008.
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