Restructure at Treasury

Press, 28 December 1988, Page 24

Restructure at Treasury

PA Wellington The Treasury has restructured its budget and publicaccounts operations in the face of proposed publicsector financial management reforms. The Treasury secretary, Mr Graham Scott, said the Treasury’s financial management structure had been divided into three parts:

© A budget section, headed by Mr Warwick Tuck, responsible for the management of the Government’s annual Budget. This includes expenditure forecasting, preparing the estimates and monitoring departmental finances.

• A financial reporting section which will prepare consolidated financial reports for all central government. Departments will continue to report to Parliament on their financial status in their annual reports. No decision has been made on who will head this section of the Treasury. • A new “internal audit” function for the Treasury’s financial management system. Led by Mr Gavin Madden, the audit will be necessary as departments take more responsibility for their own finances. This section will monitor the quality of departments’ financial management systems and the information they produce. Dr Scott said an integral part of the reform was to improve management of the Government’s cash and working capital. “Although departments will manage their own accounts, the Debt Management Office, a division of the Treasury headed by the treasurer, Mr John Zohrab, will use any spare cash in departments’ accounts to offset debt. This will reduce the Crown’s short-term borrowing requirements,” Dr Scott said.

All Government agencies were being required to improve their internal financial systems, as part of the trend to decentralised government, he said.