That puts greater pressure on councils to understand where money is being spent and what impact decisions could have further down the line. Yet for many authorities, the systems supporting this work have not kept pace. Information can be spread across different systems, while manual processes still take up valuable time.
This is one reason councils across Scotland are looking at how they can modernise the technology underpinning their finances. Inverclyde Council's partnership with TechnologyOne is one example, with the aim of giving the council better visibility of its finances, reducing administrative effort and providing a stronger basis for decision-making.
