2nd edition, January 2012
We have pulled together practical top tips for Audit Committees from the good practice shared in facilitated, syndicated-based workshops in the past and from other meetings with non-executive directors.
In this guide we highlight National Audit Office reports which illustrate the different approaches departments take to initiating projects. We show how they develop a realistic understanding of the risks, benefits and deliverability of projects.
We have reported regularly through our Value for Money audit programme that more effective risk management would enable departments to be better informed in their decisions, have a greater likelihood of meeting their aims and objectives, and help them to avoid costly mistakes.
Option appraisal is crucial to ensure Government decisions are fully informed and based on robust evidence. Appraisals can be applied at project, programme or policy levels, and have particular value when there is pressure to reduce costs while minimising effects on frontline services or the wider economy.
This paper sets out a framework for effective management of staff costs in a challenging environment of cost reduction in public services. It builds on the high level principles set out in the NAO’s short guide to structured cost reduction.
The Successful Commissioning guide is useful for all commissioners, procurement officers and managers, and grants officers who work in local authorities and local health organisations, including in primary care trusts. Third sector organisations will find the tool useful in thinking about their involvement in delivering public services.
We have published this model to provide guidance to Departments on HMT’s and NAO’s expectations of how they should manage their programmes involving PPP and PFI projects.
Good financial management is at the core of good management in government. It supports decision making and the effective running of organisations.
Public sector Boards must conduct an annual performance appraisal and Board members may find it helpful to complete this questionnaire as part of the process.
In collaboration with the National Governors Association, the National Audit Office has updated its well-received guide for school governors. The guide was first published in May 2006 alongside our value for money report on Improving poorly performing schools. It is intended to help both new and experienced primary and secondary school governors, as well as school leaders, identify and tackle the issues important to their schools’ organisation and performance.
The Decision Support Tool for public bodies in England provides practical support to officials who are involved in making, or advising on, ‘real-life’ decisions about the design of appropriate funding relationships with third sector organisations. It takes into account such issues as programme objectives, funding channels, duration of award, full cost recovery, EU state aid […]
Our Intelligent Monitoring guidance will help focus time and money on key services.
The purpose of the guide is to demonstrate and explain some of the good practices used by organisations in tackling external fraud. It includes checklists to help you assess your current practices.
This good practice guide, designed for prison officials, looks at the potential to improve prisoners’ health and lifestyles.
This report provides guidance for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Community Safety Partnerships on the most cost-effective channels for communicating with the public, reminding them of what they can do to minimise the risk of being a victim of vehicle crime and seeking to deter people from becoming theft-from-vehicle offenders.
The Consultancy Toolkit provides a framework for reviewing the extent to which an organisation is achieving value for money from its use of consultants.
It is aimed at procurement or commercial teams, customers/buyers of consultants, or audit staff.
It can be applied to the use of consultants department-wide, or at a project-level.
It is designed to diagnose areas of weakness and raise awareness of where improvements can be made.
This good practice guide is designed for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to help them minimise the risk of people becoming offenders.
This current best practice model sets out six functions used to manage complex capital investment programmes, the tasks associated with each, what good looks like, and case studies of how Departments are currently implementing them.
This is a practical guide outlining the general steps undertaken in financial and VFM audit when sampling a population. The guide shows the different sampling methods and when they are suitable, calculating sample sizes and evaluating results.