Strategic financial leadership in the UK public sector

An ACCA report examines how finance managers in public services are coping with the demands placed on them

Prowle, Harradine, Latham, Lowth, Murphy, Orford, October 2013. Given the severity of financial pressures on public authorities, this report is concerned with how finance managers in public services are coping with the demands placed on them and how they can demonstrate improved value by providing more effective strategic financial leadership. It considers how they are applying managerial approaches and solutions to the challenges of austerity and the role that the public sector finance function can play in this process.

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This report is concerned with the role of finance professionals in public authorities in dealing with austerity.

It considers how finance managers in public services can demonstrate (and are demonstrating) enhanced value by providing more effective strategic financial leadership in testing times.

This is important for a number of reasons.

Public services such as health, education, transport and policing are of great relevance and importance to all citizens.

We now live in an economic period referred to as one of ‘austerity’. The report argues that this must be seen as a watershed in social and economic history and not a blip in the trend of increasing growth in public expenditure.

The finance function in public authorities is itself financed from public funds and is therefore subject to the same austerity pressures as all other public services - hence it, too, must demonstrate what value it is adding to the provision of public services.

To download the report, see 'Related documents'.