Introduction
If you are a budget manager, you play a key role in making sure our services are delivered effectively. The information below outlines your responsibilities and how our toolkits, frameworks and key documents can help you achieve them.
Responsibilities
As a budget manager, your responsibilities are to:
- review operations to make sure services are delivered efficiently
- identify and take opportunities to reduce costs, for example by:
- use of lower-cost suppliers where appropriate
- a reduction in quality where safe to do so
- communicate actions to staff
- understand service costs and assess the impact of budget changes on service delivery.
Manage finances
You should effectively manage the finances allocated to you for your service area by reviewing, authorising and monitoring spend and make adjustments where required. It’s important you familiarise yourself with our current budget issues.
Budget monitoring
Budget monitoring involves a regular track and review of financial activities to make sure you stick to your allocated budget. This helps you to:
- identify a difference between forecasted spend and the budget available
- control expenditure
- make necessary adjustments to avoid overspend and stay on target.
Effective budget monitoring improves the management of our finances across the council and supports decision-making.
Budget monitoring toolkit
The budget monitoring toolkit includes:
- key principles
- control and monitoring
- sources of information, including a report, reconcile, review approach using the TechnologyOne system
- how to manage or take action if overspends occur or are likely to.
Monitoring timetable
The monitoring timetable identifies clear dates and deadlines that you should meet as a budget manager.
Key frameworks, manuals and documents
There are a number of documents that will help and support you as a budget manager.
The key documents toolkit includes:
Training courses
There are a number of training courses available to support you in your role as a budget manager. These include:
- budget management and control
- developing a business case
- TechnologyOne - the council’s online budgeting system.
Mandatory training
You will also be required to regularly complete the financial awareness eLearning training. This will appear on your eLearn dashboard and you will receive reminder emails when this is due to be completed.
Help and support
If you need any further help as a budget manager you can contact the finance business partnering representatives for your directorate: