This half-day seminar was an essential introduction to Managing Public Money Northern Ireland (MPMNI). MPMNI is the authoritative guide to all aspects of managing public finances. Its principles underpin the use of resources by all public authorities in Northern Ireland. While much of what the guide requires is just good common sense or sound financial management, there are also some specific rules and conventions about how certain things should be handled. Chief Executives/Accounting Officers senior staff need to be aware of these so that policies, programmes and projects work smoothly and serve their intended purposes.
MPMNI is about the stewardship of public money and much of it is about meeting the expectations of the Assembly. While Ministers are ultimately responsible, public authorities, including both government departments and non-departmental public bodies, have considerable freedom over how they organise, direct and manage resources at their disposal. As such by concentrating on crucial principles Managing Public Money Northern Ireland is much shorter than Government Accounting Northern Ireland, the document it replaced in the summer.
The seminar was therefore an opportunity for chief executives, finance directors and other key officials to hear about the guide and, in discussion, to consider both its key points and what more can be done to support designated accounting officers.
Presented by David Thomson, Treasury Officer of Accounts, the half-day programme addressed a wide range of topics as follows:
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