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CIPFA Publications & Articles
Sustainability: A Reporting Framework for the Public Services (launched June 2006)
At the end of 2004, CIPFA issued a discussion paper on Accounting and Reporting for Sustainability in public service organisations (see link below). The report was written to highlight the fact that while there is much sustainability activity taking place in these organisations, public reporting on sustainability lags behind the example set by the private sector.
Subsequently, CIPFA constituted a working group from a wide cross section of the public services to produce a framework for reporting on sustainability in the public services. We were partnered by Forum for the Future, a leading sustainability charity, on this publication. The intention was not to produce another raft of performance indicators since these are available from several different sources. The publication aims to:
- Encourage and help public service organisations to effectively challenge themselves on their sustainability performance;
- Show how to mainstream sustainability issues into the corporate objectives of organizations;
- Suggest the best approach to measuring performance in the chosen areas of sustainability; and,
- Recommend reporting methods based on existing approaches and utilizing already developed indicators.
We are endeavouring to move away from a 'one size fits all' approach and instead encouraging public service organisations to identify those sustainability issues that are priorities for them and their local communities. We hope this approach will fit with the normal ways in which organisations do business, that is, identifying key objectives and integrating them into a performance management system.
Advancing Sustainability Accounting and Reporting: An Agenda for Public Service Organisations (Discussion paper released in 2004)
Articles
26-05-2006 A sustainable future, by Rhiannon Soper
Public Finance magazine
12-01-2006 Secure
in the knowledge, by Rhiannon Soper and David Bent
[PDF file, 96K] The MJ, Page 21
You can search the Public Finance archives for other articles; just type in "Sustainability" or "Sustainable Development" in the search box. www.publicfinance.co.uk/