15 February 2008
Whitehall departments could be subject to a new financial management check under plans being considered by the National Audit Office.
Tim Burr, the new comptroller and auditor general, said such reports would help to highlight overall strengths and weaknesses of government departments, rather than the performance of individual programmes.
Next month, the spending watchdog is due to publish a report on the management of expenditure at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, marking a departure from the NAO's usual examination of the effectiveness of individual projects.
In addition, a recent NAO report on financial management in the NHS provoked great interest on the Public Accounts Committee which, Burr said, suggested the committee would be interested in becoming more involved with these issues.
'We have been considering whether, at the margin, the balance of our study programme might shift to make way for a limited number of such [financial management] reports,' he told a Treasury and CIPFA-hosted symposium on financial management on February 13.
'To get world-class financial management, we will need accountability for financial management.
'In looking at the lessons to be learned on particular programmes, attention may focus on the particularities of good and bad practice rather than more systemic strengths and weaknesses. Reports more on financial management would help redress the balance.'
Burr said the new reports would be accommodated within the NAO's programme, which should allow each department's financial management to be examined every three years.
Speaking to Public Finance, Burr said: 'As with any product, it depends on the demand for it. The PAC was very interested in [our work] on NHS financial management, but was that because it was the NHS or was it because it was financial management? But I think we'll try [this approach] with one or two other departments.'
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