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How on earth do we, as finance directors, seek out ‘waste' in our large and complex organisations. I have no doubt that publishing all expenditure over £500 will help, it will give our communities (and all others who might be interested) the ability to see exactly what we buy. Will our communities however question the fact that we pay upwards of a quarter of a million a year for a placed child or even more millions in landfill tax payments? Probably not. They will question our staff attending conferences to keep themselves abreast of new ways of delivering services. They will look closely at the payments made for our staff to travel or stay in hotels when they are away from home. They will of course question why we spend so much on websites for on-line engagement. And will they judge that this is indeed a waste of money. We work in multi-million, complex businesses with large workforces and we need to continue to be good employers, we must find a way to balance spending money in the best interests of our residents on delivery of services and providing good working environments for our staff. One of the ways I am trying to overcome the gulf there is between our views is to lead a series of community discussions on how, in the eyes of our communities, we can get this right. If my community are going to be my auditors, I need them to be furnished with the right information to challenge intelligently so that their challenges are beneficial for all of us. Is it time perhaps to have members of our community on our scrutiny committees as a matter of course? I think it is. Perhaps it is also time to develop a more symbiotic relationship with our local press, there must be a way we can work together rather than being seen to be on different sides of the fence. Tracie Evans is director of finance and resources at Barking and Dagenham LBC

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FINANCE

Money Matters

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