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
