Issue - meetings

Financial Management Code

Meeting: 28/07/2021 - Audit, Governance and Standards Committee (Item 17)

17 Financial Management Code pdf icon PDF 151 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Finance introduced her report concerning the Financial Management Code developed by CIPFA in response to the challenges of reduced funding and increased demand for services alongside the high-profile financial management issues which had faced a small number of local authorities in recent years, and which had served to highlight the importance of robust financial management.  The report also included an assessment of the Council’s compliance with the Code and proposed actions.

 

The Head of Finance explained that:

 

·  The Financial Management Code was designed to support good practice and financial management and to assist local authorities in demonstrating their financial sustainability.

 

·  The Code had been introduced relatively recently and it set out the standards of financial management for local authorities which Councils were expected to comply with by the end of the current financial year 2021/22.

 

·  The Code was a principles-based document setting out the minimum standards that many well-managed authorities would already be complying with.  However, this was the first time that the Council had been required to formally demonstrate financial management standards in this way.

 

·  The background and wider context to the development of the Code were the significant financial challenges which local government had faced in recent years coupled with the high-profile issues faced by a very small minority of Councils resulting in Section 114 notices being issued.

 

·  A self-assessment of compliance against the principles of the Code had been undertaken and it had been concluded that in the majority of areas the Council was complying.

 

·  A small number of actions had been identified to further improve compliance and these were summarised in the report.  It was anticipated that all of these actions would be delivered in 2021/22.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That the assessment of compliance against the Financial Management Code and the proposed actions documented within Appendix 1 to the report of the Head of Finance be noted.

 

2.  That the conclusion that the Council has complied with the requirements of the Financial Management Code be noted.