Understanding Financial Governance, Financial Reports and Information (Training)

06 July 2023

09:45–13:00

IPA, 57-61 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Public bodies and public benefit entities are recipients of public money to fund the provision of services and functions, and this comes with responsibilities and obligations. These modern public organisations should have strong and effective financial management and financial reporting processes, which provide, inter alia, for timely information flows internally, a robust controls system, and timely reporting on the financial year (through the financial statements) with accompanying assurance statements.

The objective of this engaging and interactive in-person training workshop is to enhance participants' understanding of best practices in financial management structures, processes, reporting, and information. It is designed to provide individuals in key governing positions with the knowledge and tools necessary to effectively carry out their roles. This will be particularly useful to Board/Committee members and senior executives and officials who do not have a formal financial background, but will also be useful as a refresher session and for those with a financial background but who are new to the public sector system.

The areas to be addressed in the session will include:

Public money: obligations, assurances and accountability
Planning for the year: budgeting, grant allocation, assumptions
Financial reporting during the year: management accounts, variance analysis and reporting
Reporting on the financial year: the annual financial statements, key content and requirements, the statement on internal control
Key financial controls and areas to watch for
Organisations and financial (system) maturity

This will be an interactive session, supported by a slide deck but also using practical case study examples.

The session will be delivered by the IPA's specialist Finance Team, Dr. Deirdre Bane and Majella Malone.

Speakers

Dr Deirdre Bane

Deirdre is a Senior Finance Specialist in the IPA Governance Team, delivering Financial Management, Audit and Internal Control Training and assistance programmes together with consultancy services to various public, state and semi-state bodies, charities and not-for-profit organisations. Previous to her position at the IPA, Deirdre worked in education for over thirteen years as a Lecturer in Finance, teaching Financial and Management Accounting (including Financial Statement Analysis), Corporate Finance and Financial Management (Investment Appraisal), and Economic and Statistics.

Prior to her experience in education, Deirdre spent ten years in the United States, working in the financial services sector (including equity research and asset management). In addition, she worked for an independent consulting practice performing economic impact analysis studies, economic development planning, social research and analysis, and providing strategic planning services to government, non-profit and corporate clients in the United States.

Majella Malone

Majella is a Finance Training Specialist at the Institute of Public Administration and is a member of the IPA Governance and Finance Team. Majella delivers a range of services to public and state bodies and not-for-profit entities in the areas of finance, financial management, audit and risk. She is an experienced finance and accounting trainer and lecturer, and leads on the IPA's Certificate in Management and Financial Accounting and the Certificate in Audit Skills. Prior to joining the IPA, she was a Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at Dublin Business School.