Purpose and Priorities
Purpose
This Business Improvement Plan (BIP) sets out the main actions that Finance and Audit intends to carry out over the period of 2023-26. These actions will deliver core priorities and the related objectives of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and the Strategic Planning & Performance Framework.
Finance and Audit provide support to all services in the Council. Such services relate to the management and safeguarding of resources, covering Financial Planning, Monitoring and Reporting, Corporate Fraud, Internal Audit, and key aspects of Revenues and Benefits including policy and income management.
In carrying out these services, Finance and Audit aims to meet statutory obligations, current best practice, and provide a responsive and quality service to our internal customers and external stakeholders. The strategic grouping contributes to the Corporate Governance of the Council through the Statutory Roles of the Chief Finance Officer as the Section 95 Officer and the team’s focus on supporting and strengthening controls and monitoring legislative compliance.
Strategic Priorities
For the years 2023-26, the Strategic Group has identified Strategic Priorities. They have been identified as assisting the team in meeting their statutory obligations under:
- the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which specifies the requirement to make arrangements for the proper administration of the Council’s financial affairs,
- the Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014 which require adequate and effective financial management and the operation of a professional and objective internal auditing service in accordance with recognised standards and practices.
The Strategic Priorities have also been identified as helping to meet the Council’s guiding principles of Best Value, Coproduction and Engagement and Prevention and Early Intervention.
The Strategic Priorities are detailed as follows:
Finance
- Ensuring the continued sustainability of the Council’s finances through a prudent approach to budget setting and to reserves management.
- Work collaboratively with services and elected members on the establishment of a balanced budget for each year.
- Undertake financial diligence to reduce risk and improve efficiencies.
- Seek savings by engaging with the Transformation Programme, comparing performance against other Councils and looking at other means such as sharing services and working with other Councils and public sector organisations.
- Investigate alternative ways of raising money to pay for Council services, for example through income generation activities and charging policy.
- Promoting and leading managers through the Council’s financial regulations and processes to support improvements in budgetary control and financial stewardship.
- Ensuring compliance with Accounting codes, legislation and regulations.
- Support control improvements and developments within core Financial Systems. This includes supporting the General Ledger Replacement via the Oracle Fusion implementation to ensure an efficient and resilient service can continue to be provided by the team in future years.
- Support corporate activities where financial input and information is required e.g. Transformation Programme and Local Government Benchmarking.
- Produce the Council's accounts to the statutory deadline and support the work of External Auditors as part of that process.
Internal Audit and Fraud
- Provision of a professional, independent and objective internal audit service.
- Work in partnership with management to improve the control environment, add value and assist the Council in achieving its objectives.
- Operate as a catalyst for improvement at the heart of the Council.
- Complete a programme of work designed to evaluate and improve the Council’s control systems, risk management and governance arrangements.
- Provision of assurance to the Audit & Risk Management Committee and to Senior Management including the annual audit opinion.
- Provide advice at the outset of new processes, to help ensure an adequate control environment and the minimisation of fraud risk.
- Co-ordinate the annual assessment of Governance arrangements to support the delivery of outcomes.
- Assist in ensuring that the public purse is protected and providing support and assistance to all services in the development of an anti-fraud culture in keeping with the LOIP guiding principle of Prevention and Early Intervention.
- Assist in ensuring adequate vetting mechanisms are in place so that licences are only granted to those entitled.
- Review of high risk business processes including new processes to ensure fraud prevention measures are embedded.
Work of the Teams
Finance
- Financial planning to support the Council’s decision making; to address projected budget deficits, whilst delivering investment and sustaining priorities.
- Providing detailed budgeting, accounting, financial monitoring support and advice to managers and budget holders, and advising Elected Members on budget management performance. Key resource management, business planning, and business systems are supported. This includes support for the HSCP, Early Years, Housing business plan, service reviews, budget reduction strategies, Trusts, and with the Business and Digital Change Service.
- Providing financial policy guidance and advice to Elected Members, CMT, Executive Officers and service managers on all corporate and operational financial matters, including support to managers in preparation and monitoring of revenue and capital budgets, options appraisal and corporate governance arrangements.
- Ensuring compliance with accounting codes of practice, regulations and legislation, to ensure Annual Accounts are delivered within statutory deadlines and achieve a clean audit certificate.
- Acting as a central reference point for technical accounting and budgeting, financial systems development, VAT and accounting for capital within the fixed asset register.
- Providing a treasury management service including the borrowing, investment, cash balances and Prudential code elements of Council activity, providing information on capital investment and resources, and ensuring that plans are affordable and sustainable.
- Ongoing development of financial systems to improve information for management, following implementation of transformational developments.
Compliance and Systems (Revenues & Benefits)
The Compliance and Systems team (Revenues and Benefits) assumes the lead role in the provision of revenues and benefits systems incorporating income management, performance management, reporting and statistical information. Key work undertaken by the team includes:
- Ensuring all income received by the Council is properly and timeously allocated to the correct systems and financial codes to provide accurate information for all services,
- Administering Revenues & Benefits reconciliations,
- Ensuring accuracy, development and enhancement of all relevant systems,
- Sustaining and improving performance, and
- Ensuring Compliance with statutory functions.
Internal Audit
The Internal Audit Team provides Internal Audit services to the Council and the HSCP through delivery of a risk based plan. The scope of the work extends to unplanned reactive work in response to emerging risks. The internal audit team contributes to the delivery of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP), helping management ensure that the Council has appropriate systems, controls and governance arrangements through which it seeks to deliver its Vision and Local Outcomes. The main pieces of work delivered are:
- Internal audit reports, which typically review a system, provide an opinion on the controls in place and highlight any risks identified, making recommendations for improvement;
- Consultancy notes, which are normally narrower in scope and provide focused advice. These are provided subject to there being no impact on core assurance work and subject to the availability of skills and resources.
- Less formal advice, which can be verbal or via email and is often in relation to new processes or changes to existing processes.
Corporate Fraud
The Corporate Fraud Team provides a counter fraud service to the Council and leads the development of an anti-fraud culture within the council. Key areas of work include:
- Providing support and assistance to all services in the development of an anti-fraud culture.
- Data matching to identify possible instances of fraud. This includes data matching on tenancy data to identify potential fraud cases prior to allocation.
- Reactive investigatory work in relation to whistleblowing reports, vetting of applications including Covid business grant applications and referrals from Council services.
- Supporting the licencing team as a consultee on licence applications.
- The above work assists in making East Dunbartonshire a safe and sustainable environment in which to live, work and visit.
Key Improvement Actions for 2023-2024
- Upgrade of Systems including Oracle Fusion
- Leases IFRS 16 Compliance
- Compliance with Financial Management Code
- Support in Closing Financial Gap