By Tash Shifrin
Public sector chief finance officers will be expected to sign up to a new ‘comply or explain’ best practice statement from CIPFA, the head of the government finance profession told delegates.
Jon Thompson, who is also finance director at the Ministry of Defence, said chief finance officers who could not meet the new standards would have to explain why. But he added: ‘We do expect the vast majority to adopt this statement.’
Thompson, a member of the panel that drew up The role of the chief financial officer in public service organisations, said it was designed to take account of the ‘really quite stark’ differences in top accounting roles across the public sector. A ‘section 151’ officer in local government works on a different basis to central government’s accounting officers, he said.
The statement is designed to set a benchmark and is based on core principles, including leadership, decision-making, good financial management, qualifications and experience, and running a finance function that is ‘fit for purpose’.
Thompson told the conference: ‘We do not believe it is credible any more for any leadership team to not have the chief finance officer at the top table.’ It was ‘no longer acceptable to have a dividing line between public service delivery and resource management’, he added.
Thompson said the statement did not attempt to prescribe a specific organisational structure for finance functions.
Public sector chief finance officers will be expected to sign up to a new ‘comply or explain’ best practice statement from CIPFA, the head of the government finance profession told delegates.
Jon Thompson, who is also finance director at the Ministry of Defence, said chief finance officers who could not meet the new standards would have to explain why. But he added: ‘We do expect the vast majority to adopt this statement.’
Thompson, a member of the panel that drew up The role of the chief financial officer in public service organisations, said it was designed to take account of the ‘really quite stark’ differences in top accounting roles across the public sector. A ‘section 151’ officer in local government works on a different basis to central government’s accounting officers, he said.
The statement is designed to set a benchmark and is based on core principles, including leadership, decision-making, good financial management, qualifications and experience, and running a finance function that is ‘fit for purpose’.
Thompson told the conference: ‘We do not believe it is credible any more for any leadership team to not have the chief finance officer at the top table.’ It was ‘no longer acceptable to have a dividing line between public service delivery and resource management’, he added.
Thompson said the statement did not attempt to prescribe a specific organisational structure for finance functions.
