Gasette This issue - Government Finance Profession - HM Treasury

NewsFinance inthe front lineThe GFP is “in full view and on thefront line” in the battle to cut thedeficit, Economic Secretary to theTreasury Chloe Smith MP told morethan 200 senior financeprofessionals at the CIPFA WorldClass Performance Symposium.Smith told delegates that anumber of workstreams had beenset up to bring together membersof the Finance Leadership Group,Director-Generals of Finance fromthe largest-spending departments,and representatives from theTreasury and Cabinet Office. Theywill focus on:• Treasury spending controls andEmergingstrongerCIPFA has launched EmergingStronger: Shaping the financefunction to meet new and futurechallenges. The paper emphasisesthat top performing organisationsrequire top performing financefunctions, identifying four key areasin which finance must contributestrongly: leading innovation, addingvalue, managing risk and cuttingcosts. This in turn focuses thinkingon four critical roles: innovator,A risky businessAccounting is about providinginformation to help makegood decisions, and gooddecisions mean less risk,according to the ACCA’s PaulMoxey. The accountant’s dayto-dayrole is about managingdeveloping incentives for goodfinancial management.• The development of costconsciouscultures in departments.• Shared services.• Management information.• Finance skills for non-financeprofessionals.• Developing our financeprofessionals.“These are workstreams that arebeing driven by seniormanagement right acrossWhitehall, committed to instillingstronger financial management,”the minister said.• For more see pages 8-9.CIPFA CEOSteve Freerbusiness partner, steward, andprovider/commissioner. The paperargues that through these coreroles the finance function has theopportunity to showcase itsimportance in taking theorganisation forward and toemerge stronger post austerity.• For more see page 10.risk, he said, even if they don’trecognise it. Moxey stressedthat risk happens at all levelsof the business and it doesn’tsit in silos. He stressed: “Riskmanagement needs to besomething undertaken byeveryone in an organisationso it is fully integrated.”‘Golden age’for accountantsGovernment accountants are entering a “golden age”, accordingto Head of the Profession Richard Douglas. “I want to see theaccountant at the heart of the decision-making process,” he said.“I want to move finance from the backroom to the boardroom.We have to, to deal with the scale of the challenges facingfinance.” For more see page 16.This year it could be you!Don’t get caught out – we areasking for nominations for the GFPAwards 2012 early this year! Thefull list of categories and rules ofentry will all be posted onlineat www.thegfptreasury.org,just afterthe Easter holidays. Lastyear we had winnersamong others fromDWP, MoD, HMRC andthe Treasury itself. But therewere also winners from theDepartment for Rural Affairs, DfE,the Department for Communitiesand Local Government, The CourtsService, and the EnvironmentAgency. The awards then are opento all departments, agencyand arm’s length bodies,so isn’t it time you oryour department wasrecognised for all yourhard work?All we need is 250words explaining why the‘nominee’ should win a GFPaward.THE GFP PRESENTS...The 30TH ANNIVERSARY TRAININGEVENTBACK TO THE BRIGHTON METROPOLE7th and 8th NOVEMBER 201204 theGASETTE spring 2012