A common theme in today's landscape is that demand is outstripping the availability of strong, experienced interims – and with the pressure to deliver services increasing this trend is likely to only get worse.
On the surface this might seem a depressing situation, but I think it actually represents an opportunity for local authorities to widen the scope of who they will consider.
There is understandably a fear that non-local authority experienced interims won't be able to adapt – that they won't understand how local authority accounts work and it will take too long for them to get up to speed.
The reality is that seasoned interims can make the transition and shouldn't be discounted. The tools and knowledge exist, with CIPFA providing a great deal of guidance on local authority regulations, with lots of documentation in the public domain. The task isn't insurmountable and can be achieved, but importantly there needs to be a leap of faith by local authorities.
There are success stories with councils hiring interims from the NHS and, even the commercial sector who have gone onto make a valuable contribution. This pattern has been, however, limited to commercial or transformational roles, with little movement in other areas such as final accounts.
Aside from increasing the pool of interims available, the desire to attract these professionals comes with benefits, as they come armed with fresh perspectives on practices and procedures, which can aid a local authority to revaluate their approach.
Moreover, if local authorities are serious about becoming more commercially minded, with the emergence of trading companies, for example – the true challenge facing them isn't simply in the delivery of services, but who will help deliver them. A more open mind to transferable skills might help?
Az Ahmed, Consultant, CIPFA Penna az.ahmed@penna.com
