Title

Well, a financial director's life is never dull – and we certainly don't live easy lives. Take this week. The most satisfying part of my week was leading a peer efficiency review with a team made up from local government, the RIEP and the IDeA. These peer challenges of all London authorities serve to share best practice, identify efficiencies, and promote collaborative ways of achieving London-wide efficiencies. I know we left our peer borough with some good ideas, and my brilliant team gained insight, as well. I then spent one evening this week with local businesses, discussing how they could link to the local supply chain. How do you suggest to a single contractor that it is unlikely he or she will ever win a £2m contract, but that they can join a register of local businesses. ‘But we don't want to be on a register, we just want work,' they say. There must be better ways for us to be able to spend our money in our communities without upsetting Europe! And, to top my busy week, my chief executive announced that he was moving on after five years of delivering members' dreams, improving services, and building new settings to drive up skills and provide more jobs. Our organisation was temporarily rocked by the news, but these are the times when the leadership team needs to step up to the plate. We are lucky. We have a strong leadership team and good relationships with our members, which will serve us well in managing the enormous changes ahead. We lead busy, diverse, satisfying, interesting lives and occasionally, I dream of being on the slopes. But actually, none of us financial directors would have it any other way, would we..? Tracie Evans is corporate director of finance and commercial services at Barking and Dagenham LBC

Title

FINANCE

Money Matters

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