The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), has launched its Financial Management (FM) Code, to drive improvement in financial management for councils across the United Kingdom
The new code is the first from the institute in almost 15 years, and brings together many areas of local government financial management into a single document.
Rob Whiteman, CIPFA chief executive, said: “Our ambition is to embed good financial management as an organisational responsibility. It is vital that, as a sector, we break down historically siloed ways of working and move towards a sense of collective responsibility when it comes to finance.”
The FM Code is based on a set of standards and principles, including organisational leadership, transparency, assurance and sustainability, CIPFA said.
Gareth Davies, comptroller & auditor general at the National Audit Office, said: “We welcome the new CIPFA FM Code which should help local bodies improve their standards of financial management and cope with the financial challenges they are facing.”
Although the new code comes into effect from April 2020, in recognition of the pressures facing local authorities, 2021/22 will be the first full compliance year for the Code, allowing authorities a shadow year to work towards full implementation.
CIPFA said it will be providing support and guidance over the next 12 months to aid this process.
