ACCA Says, CFO for Government is an Important Move

The Chief Executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Helen Brand OBE, appreciates the review of “financial management in government” published by Treasury today.

It is pleasing to know that the Government now recognizes and values the importance of finance professionals for better decision making and delivering value for money. The report says that the financial management is improving but more has to be done for better outcomes. The report also says that it’s also important to maintain and improve the skills of the financial professionals working in Whitehall.

Helen Brand Says: Strong and technical financial leadership is key in order to get better and higher standards at Whitehall. He also ads, the proposed role of a Director General finance for Whitehall has the potential to create and maintain a strong financial management strategy that will help Whitehall to make better decisions.

ACCA says that there are several examples of good financial management across the Government, but the problem with the financial management at Whitehall is lack of consistency. A well experienced Chief Financial Officer or a Director General of Finance will surely bring in stability, consistency and better financial management at Whitehall.

Halen also said that the proposal for risk based approach to control finance across government departments is a great move and was much needed. The reason behind this proposal is that the decision making should be delegated to those people who have the best local knowledge and access to local information and who can take better decisions about the value of expenditures and corresponding risks and opportunities. This proposal will help in getting all these objectives.

Financial management in government departments has improved significantly over the last two decades and if the Treasury’s report proposal of having a CFO or DG is implemented, it will help greatly in stepping up a level in financial management.