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ANNEX B: BUDGET MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING
BASIC POINTS FOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Good financial management should ensure that:
- staff in charge of delegated budgets, both for administration costs and programme expenditure, have clear guidance on the size of the budgets, what they may be used for and how far they can be varied;
- specific authority is obtained for expenditure beyond the approved purposes of delegated budget (even if the amount can be contained within the budget);
- expenditure is covered by statutory and Parliamentary (Budget Act) authority;
- actual expenditure is monitored against budgetary provision and corrective action taken if necessary;
- managers operating budgets have clear guidance as to whether the delegated budget authority carries with it delegated purchasing authority or whether the actual purchasing will be undertaken elsewhere;
- managers authorising the taking on of commitments e.g. ordering goods and services, making grant offers, on entering into contracts of work purchases, have clear guidance as to the extent of their delegated authority for individual cases;
- staff authorising commitments act in an even-handed manner, and are seen to do so;
- staff are aware that guarantees, indemnities and similar arrangements which may lead to public expenditure in the future (no matter how remote that possibility may appear) may not be entered into without specific authority;
- staff involved in authorising and making payments arising from commitments already made have clear instructions on the procedures they must follow including prepayment checks to be made;
- all desk instructions are up to date; that they provide for adequate separation of duties; and otherwise contain appropriate provisions to combat the possibility of fraud; and
- the operation of the procedures contained in desk instructions is monitored to ensure compliance and that it is working effectively.
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