Financial Management

Introduction to the Public Spending Code is a 90 minute webinar that will cover a range of key topics underpinning the Public Spending Code (2019) including the roles and responsibilities associated with projects, basic provisions for capital and revenue projects, evaluation and quality assurance expectation to deliver a public spending code project or programme.

This course is intended to introduce the Public Spending Code (PSC) for Capital Projects. The programme will address the commitments to complete the framework for capital projects by identifying the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders and taking the participants through the requirements of delivery of each stage of the framework.

Building a Business Case for the Public Spending Code introduces the critical skills required to deliver a business case to fulfil the public spending code requirements.  A business case which supports any public project is an essential instrument to deliver value for money.  The business case is critical to examine the opportunities, alternatives (counterfactual), project stages, financial investment and ex-post evaluation of any project.

A critical component of the Public Spending Code is the financial analysis which supports your projects / programmes.  The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has provided two excel files to guide the financial analysis for proposals / projects / programmes under €1 million and over €1 million. This training delivers a workshop to help participants navigate and populate the financial analysis templates.  In addition, the course aims to develop the skills and knowledge of the participants in investment appraisal tools and techniques to support a financial analysis.

This programme, Public Spending Code: Carrying out a Financial Analysis (November 2021 Update), builds on our general Public Spending Code course and attendance is recommended at that course prior to taking this programme.

This Public Spending Code: Quality Assurance Course is intended as an introduction to the steps involved in the quality assurance of both capital and current expenditure projects.

The two hour workshop will support a review of the inventory process and checklists on certain checklists to help build awareness of obligations.

A programme logic model is a road map of your programme, highlighting how it is expected to work, what activities need to come before others, and how desired outcomes are achieved (Kellogg, 1998).  This model is used extensively in the public sector to help evidence value for money throughout the lifecycle of a project/programme.

This Public Spending Code: The Programme Logic Framework Model course is intended as an introduction to navigating the programme logic model, which supports delivery of your capital and current expenditure project. 

Published accounts are the backbone of the accountability and reporting system used in the public, semi-state and private sectors. The information contained in these reports is critical for those charged with the responsibility of monitoring agency performance. However, this information is only useful where it can be interpreted accurately and in the correct context.  Understanding the Financial Reports of Public Bodies is a one-day online course that is designed for those who need a basic knowledge of the principles of the financial reporting system, from the nature of the information that goes into published accounts, to understanding what it is the statements actually report. 

Understanding Local Government Finance is a specialist-led online one-day course that is designed to provide participants with a basic understanding of how an Irish Local Authority sources their income to fund day to day expenditure and capital expenditure. The course will also provide participants with an appreciation of how the budget process works in a Local Authority and an understanding of the Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet of a Local Authority. Finally, the course will examine the role of internal and external audit in a local government context.

The purpose of the annual financial statements is to provide useful information about the financial performance, position and cashflows of an organisation based on generally accepted accounting practice, norms and specific sectoral requirements. These statements are key elements of the holding to account process for the performance of organisations. Understandability, credibility and relevance are among the key principles which underpin the reports.  This series of three separate webinars will focus on key sectors of the public service and examine the format, content and the levels of data and information provision within the sets of accounts

The following key sectors will be examined and assessed in a separate one hour webinar:

• Central Government Appropriation Accounts
• State Bodies Financial Statements
• Local Authority Financial Statements