CIPFA and EY have teamed up to offer a service delivering fully compliant accounts for local authorities, in response to the growing complexity of reporting requirements in the sector
The pair says the ‘game changing’ partnership combines CIPFA’s sector expertise with EY’s experience in monthly reporting and accounts closedown, with the new assured managed services designed to provide fast, secure and reliable financial reporting.
Using specialist software developed with local authority finance experts, CIPFA and EY will be able to provide regular reports to better inform decision making, as well as end of year accounts.
Rob Whiteman, CIPFA chief executive, said: ‘Statutory requirements have made local government accounts increasingly detailed. That’s great for planning and transparency but the process can swamp finance teams causing log-jams and additional costs, such as employing temporary staff.
‘EY has a solid reputation for preparing and consolidating private sector accounts and CIPFA knows public finance like none other. Together, we can offer a game changing service to boost performance and reduce costs by freeing up finance teams to focus on good financial management.’
The CIPFA/EY assured managed services will be available from September 2016. The process will help with the quality and timeliness of reports and will include financial analysis to review manual adjustments and incorporate accounting code changes, as well as support to finalise the closedown process.
David Smith, EY government and public sector financial and accounting advisory services UK leader, said: ‘By teaming up with CIPFA, we are building on our existing closedown services so that, for first time, public sector organisations will be able to access the same support used by leading private sector businesses.’
