When PF asked if there were any surviving editions out there, a 1976 edition – kept because it included a letter by a young local government accountant – emerged.
John Harker takes us back to the energy crisis and International Monetary Fund intervention.
He says: “In 1976, I was working at Tyne & Wear Metropolitan County Council. Earlier, it had been fun helping devise financial systems from scratch from December 1973 ready for opening day on 1 April 1974. That meant artificial light during the miners’ strike, with electricity rationed to three days a week.
“Barely two years after a major local government reorganisation, finance departments were getting to grips with much larger organisations. Audit had a low profile. Internal audit was seen as a drain on resources, and external audit was under-resourced, with no wider value-for-money powers.
“My letter stated: ‘The time is long overdue for specific direction from the Institute to Treasurers that the audit approach should be ‘modern and value-for-money-oriented’.
“I moved into the NHS in Durham Area Health Authority in 1979, shortly before metropolitan counties were abolished. Instead of volumes of legislation and council members determining local council policy within that, the NHS was officer-led within a framework of lots of health circulars by health ministers – some dating back 20-plus years.
“During the next few years, CIPFA’s Audit Panel rose to that challenge and revised and broadened the Internal Audit Statement. That microcosm within the finance function seems prehistoric now.
New world, new approaches
“Almost 50 years on, the challenges are different, and we live in a more complex world.
“Public trust in institutions seems to be in decline, and the gap between those making policy and those subject to it is growing. Financial crises requiring ministerial ‘bailout’ are increasing. Significant delays in signing off council accounts suggests insufficient fee levels. And NHS staff planning is as inadequate for the 21st century as it was in the 20th.
“Some basics, however, do not change:
- Good governance relies upon high standards of financial management and accountability;
- Prevention is better than cure;
- Legislation that results in effective regulation benefits everyone;
- Audit – internal and particularly external – is at the crossroads of accountability.
- “The pendulum swings back and forth over time. There are wiser heads than mine, but here’s some thoughts:
- After a decade of austerity, perhaps there is a grudging recognition at the centre that public services need increased funding and more effective regulation to restore public trust and avoid budget crises.
- As services become more complex and reliant on technology, that makes it virtually impossible to manage from the centre – especially with varying IT systems. Greater devolution seems a logical way forward and should increase local accountability.
- I wonder if the parliamentary system is fit for purpose today.
A model with fewer, high-calibre MPs, together with regional MPs – like mayors – on salaries that would attract the best, supported by managers dealing with day-to-day constituency work is appealing. It is hard to imagine how such a model would not significantly reduce costs and improve government.
It seems that we go around the circuit only to have to complete another round.
