Over the past three years we have had a presence at Norwich City Council, helping them with accounts closure, interim financial management and the Local Government Review (LGR). This started with Paul Julian taking the leading role as the Council’s Section 151 officer, to commence the recovery process following a disclaimer opinion on the 2005/06 statement of accounts. Paul was soon joined by two more consultants (David Bradley & David Skelton), one to assist in budget assurance work and the other reviewing the audit issues relating to the 2005/06 accounts and, helping to re-engineer the Council’s financial management system.
Around October 2006, we won a contract to assist the Council with financial modelling for the LGR. Ms Laura McGillivray Chief Executive commented by saying "Public Sector Consultants has been a cornerstone of our financial improvement plan so when we needed support for our unitary bid, we turned to them".
Such was our commitment to assisting the Council and successful placement of our consultant, that Clive Mason remained with the Council for in excess of two years undertaking various roles, including interim financial management and accounts closure as well as ongoing LGR support. During this time, we also supported the Council through various other aspects of financial management and reporting, including:
- 2006/07 and 2007/08 closedown
- financial systems development and enhancement
- revenues services interim management
- reconciliations for European grants and HRA income
- technical capital accounting support
As a result of all our work and the Council’s staff inputs, Norwich only received a technical qualification on the 2007/08 statement of accounts. This further assisted the Council in their LGR ambitions and as a result a Norwich Unitary Council was one of only two options for Norfolk that went forward for consultation.
We are proud to have been able to support Norwich City Council in improving its financial management and reporting requirements and also, in assisting with its bid to achieve unitary status - a clear demonstration of the quality services and professional approach provided by our people.
Paul Spencer Director of Transformation said "We have much appreciated the support of Public Sector Consultants in both our finance improvement programme, and the development of the financial elements of our case for unitary status. Public Sector Consultants was instrumental in the good progress made on both projects, and we have valued their straightforward and effective advice."