Slides used by Daniel Haines, of Crowe Clark Whitehill, at the ‘Locally trusted organisations and Big Local partnerships’ learning and networking events. The events took place on Friday 25 November and Wednesday 7 December 2016.

1. Audit | Tax | Advisory
Good financial management
Daniel Haines

2.  Understanding the funding agreement
 Demonstrating the importance of financial systems and processes in
managing Big Local money
 Effective reporting to the Partnership and Local Trust
 Sharing experience and insights of managing Big Local money
The aim of today’s session
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To explore the internal processes and procedures related to
administering and accounting for the distribution of Big
Local funding

3. Ask yourself…
 Is the LTO and Partnership familiar with the
offer letter and terms and conditions?
 Do the Partnership and LTO understand
their respective responsibilities to each
other and to Local Trust ?
 Do you have the necessary processes in
place to ensure that you fulfil the terms and
conditions?
 Do you monitor that you and your Big Local
Partnership continue to keep to the terms
and conditions on an ongoing basis?
Understanding the funding agreement
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What is your
agreement?
Made up of:
 Signed terms and
conditions
 Offer letter
 Linked to your Big
Local plan

4. Key elements of the terms and conditions:
Understanding your funding agreement (continued)
4
Relationship between Big Local
Partnership and LTO:
 Regular contact with Partnership;
 Monitoring/communicating spend
and achievements
 Review/evaluation of plans and
funded activities
Robust internal control
environment:
 Segregation of duties;
 Authorisation of expenditure
and procurement;
 Record keeping
Wider governance:
 Fraud and whistleblowing;
 Serious incident reporting;
 Insurance
Reporting to the Big Local
Partnership and Local Trust:
 Timely (meet deadlines);
 Accurate and complete;
 Relevant

5. Principles of an effective internal
control environment:
Internal controls
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What are internal
financial controls?
Manual vs
automatic
Proportionate
to level of risk
Segregation
of duties
Documented
procedures
Appropriate
levels of
authorisation
Physical
security
• Ensure accuracy and
reliability of financial
information;
• Safeguard assets;
• Ensure compliance with
laws and regulations;
• Prevent, detect and deter
fraud.
 The systems, processes
and checks which exist in
an organisation to:

6. Outcomes and lessons from LTO control
visits
6
Main findings and lessons from LTO visits:
 There is no one size fits all approach to internal control
 Communication is critical
 Conflicts of interest should be recorded and shared with all relevant
parties
 Monitoring spending and communicating results to the Partnership
and Local Trust is essential

7. Effective
reporting:
Reporting expenditure
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Timely
Accurate
Complete
Relevant
Think about….
 Who is the user of your report?
 What does the user want to
know?
• How much has been spent?
• How much is left?
• How long is there to spend
it?
 Relevant non-financial
information
 Including committed
expenditure on top of anything
already spent

8. 8
Local Trust finance guidance for LTOs:
http://localtrust.org.uk/library/programme-guidance/managing-big-local-funding/
Internal financial controls for charities (CC8): How to manage your charity’s
financial activity and use internal financial controls to reduce the risk of loss (designed for charities but a
useful reference tool for any organisation): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/internal-
financial-controls-for-charities-cc8
Additional resources

9.  Split into groups of 4-5
 Within your groups answer the 2 questions on the next slide – share
ideas and experiences and summarise your points for discussion (15
minutes)
 Be prepared to tell us what you think – we will ask each group how
they answered each question. There will be opportunity for group
discussion.
Group Activity
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Aim: to share experiences and insights in managing Big
Local money and reporting performance

10. Answer the following questions within your groups
 What information does the Partnership require to make effective
financial management decisions related to the Big Local Plan?
 What are the main challenges, in terms of managing Big Local
funding, when working with Partnerships or LTOs and how can
these be overcome?
Group activity questions
10

11. Daniel Haines
Audit Manager
Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP
daniel.haines@crowecw.co.uk
Contact details
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12. @crowecw
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