Meeting the challenges facing the
Finance team in the Public Sector
In recent years, pressure on the Finance team in Public Sector
organisations to improve accountability has increased considerably.
Many public sector bodies have undergone considerable change, often involving mergers or the take-on of new responsibilities, creating complex, often multi-site, multi-department organisations with devolved management structures. The Finance team has to account for the dynamics of such changes and recognise the need to work carefully within finite budgetary limits.
Over recent years a number of factors have placed additional burdens on those responsible for accounting:
- Senior Officers are demanding better quality management information to support their decision-making roles
- There is an irresistible drive towards eGovernment with a view to streamlining operations and enable new efficiencies
- All organisations should be planning eProcurement initiatives that achieve Gershon efficiency targets. Some recognise the next step will go far beyond the basics, perhaps involving sophisticated techniques for collaboration between organisations and suppliers
- The performance measurement culture has given rise to requirements for
full resource accounting and online visibility of Key Performance Indicators
(KPI's)
- The reality of levying charges on service-users has driven organisations
towards more complex accounting, with costs analysed in detail across
projects and service lines as well as cost centres and departments
LAKE has been working with public sector organisations for more than fifteen years, helping them implement Financial and Performance Management systems that deliver unprecedented control, empowerment and efficiency.
Fund Management
The LAKE public sector solution accommodates the special
regulations, restrictions, and limitations needed to manage multiple
funds across multiple projects.
By automating where appropriate, errors associated with
manual entries and reconciliations are reduced. This improves visibility
of the cost pipeline and speeds the production of reports.
Grant Management
Managing grant resources helps the
organisation remain accountable for spending and comply with regulations
throughout the process.
The LAKE solution helps:
- track grant funds and the projects to which those funds need to be applied
- monitor expenditure
- deliver timely reports for full disclosure
With up-to-date information about successful budgeting and grant performance, organisations can focus time and energy on the management and allocation of grant funding, rather than spending time tracking allocations.
Encumbrances and Commitments
Effectively track commitments and requisitions against budget allocations, protecting yourself against overspend. The LAKE solution allows you to set aside funds for future contracts, as well as plan and stay on track for using the allocated funds. This ensures that funds will be available when payment is due.
Spend Control
Public sector organisations need robust systems to manage a broad variety of purchasing, stock control and distribution activities.
The LAKE solution goes beyond the basics of eProcurement to provide
sophisticated Spend Control. Delegate authority with absolute confidence
that spend will be kept safely within budget. Provide complete
visibility of the cost pipeline and related cash flow requirements as
soon as orders are requested and only allow over-spend with appropriate
authority.
Eliminate paperwork and ensure more efficient purchase
arrangements/contracts with vendors. For organisations that distribute
'materials' to their constituents or to other governmental departments,
the LAKE solution helps manage orders, track usage, and ensure materials
are properly accounted for.
Budgeting & Forecasting
The solution builds on the underlying General Ledger code structures and supports profiled budgets, budget adjustments and virements, rolling forecasts, and "what-if" analyses. With detailed operational plans (e.g. by Department, Site, Project, Cost Centre, etc) feeding into the Income and Expenditure, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statements, SunSystems:
- encourages collaboration between different parts of the organisation
- reduces the risk and sheer overhead associated with dozens of inter-linked spreadsheets
The combination of SunSystems and LAKE's rapid implementation method represents a cost-effective Budgeting and Forecasting solution that can become a true value-add function for your organisation.
Analysis and Reporting
Simply define and manage analysis dimensions such as Directorate, Department, Cost Centre, Project, Service Line, Team, Employee, Office,
and Region ensure the organisation is able to keep pace with changes in responsibilities, structure and reporting requirements.
Cost allocations and reports can be driven by up to 100 analysis dimensions without the need to create a long, complex chart of accounts.
Point-and-click hierarchy management tools allow you to change and model
the organisational structure with complete freedom.
Automate the
production of reports to numerous stakeholders
At the click of a
mouse the LAKE public sector solution allows you to produce reports from
the same underlying database for all interested stakeholders; including
committees, heads of department, directors, the tax authorities, and
government.
Portal technology and workflow processes
The LAKE public sector solution is workflow and web-enabled, with information secured in SQL Server or Oracle databases. Integration with portal technologies and other applications is achieved using XML, the industry standard for simple, cross-platform integration.
LAKE Public Sector solutions enable:
- Cash and accrual-based accounting without the need for dual ledgers or complex reconciliation procedures
- Budgeting and virements
- In-year reporting and forecasting
- Financial control and audit
- Extensive analysis of both transactions and account codes to reflect the reporting requirements of government
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