Accountancy forms the core of every finance function,
and is probably the hardest service to measure and
benchmark. This is because of the wide range of
tasks involved and the difficulty in defining and
measuring them. Our approach is based around the
following framework of activities:
Financial strategy and planningFinancial adviceBudget preparationBudget monitoringPreparation of final accountsTechnical research and major projectsSystems supportTreasury management
Each of these activity groups is defined in some
detail, and members are asked to assign their staff
time and costs to each heading, excluding any work
for other bodies, but including both central staff and
accountancy staff working in other departments.
These are then compared in terms of the ratio of cost
per £1,000 of gross revenue turnover. Members are
also asked to divide their accountancy cost in terms
of the amount charged to each of the main service
areas such as education, which can then be
compared in relation to the respective service
budgets.
Members of this club can also make use of its
accountancy customer satisfaction survey. This starts
with a set of standard questions, to which members
can add questions of their own, plus their own
introduction, explanation etc. The survey can then be
emailed to any number of accountancy service users,
and (providing they have the requisite Excel and email
software) their responses are automatically
forwarded to us, and the collated results in due
course returned to the authority. At the end of the
year, we will circulate comparative scores.
November 2007 |