Called CFO Insights and based on Grant Thornton’s Place Analytics platform, the subscription-based service brings together data relating to the financial performance of local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales.
It allows finance directors to compare a local authority’s income and spend by category as well as the outcomes for that spend within the local socio-economic context.
CIPFA chief executive Rob Whiteman said: “Finance directors are on the frontline tackling the huge challenges that face public service. CFO Insights enables local public bodies to compare costs, outcomes and other indicators, so that they are able not only to work on what has happened in the past, but also to find better ways of managing demand in the future.”
Grant Thornton partner Phillip Woolley added that high performance in public services “can only happen through better insight and understanding that is based on the transparency of data and the sharing of best practice throughout the UK”.