There is widespread acknowledgement that there is a need to improve organisational financial literacy and to foster a collective ownership of financial issues if local councils are to continue to improve local services.

However, despite the increasing recognition of the importance of the role of service managers in the effective management of resources, the appropriate finance training is often under developed and under resourced across many local authorities.

Against this background, CIPFA’s Finance Advisory Network (FAN) has established a new Training and Development Forum specifically for Service Managers (TDF-SM). The aim of this new forum, launched in July 2006, is to enhance the financial management skills and competencies of the non-finance professional – heads of service, service managers and their operational staff.

Designed to add value to the existing financial management arrangements within local authorities, it is our objective that the Forum will become an essential tool to assist with the development of financial management competencies of service managers. The ultimate benefit will be the strengthening of the organisation’s financial management capacity.

To find out more about this exciting new Forum, please select About TDF-SM