Eastbourne Borough Council is already rated as "good" by the independent Audit Commission but is working hard in an ever more testing environment to retain that status and to continually improve.
One of the services it is focussing on is financial management. Already aware of areas where it wants to do better the Council has invested in new staff and new management structures, in professional accountancy training to develop its core finance staff, and in new comprehensive financial systems that will ‘go live’ from next April.
A recent Audit Commission report on the Council’s governance arrangements for 2005/2006 confirms areas where the Council needs to improve and makes some helpful recommendations that will assist in that process. The report also records that some of these improvements have already been put in place and others are already planned and their implementation underway. Acknowledging the Council’s positive and constructive approach the report goes on to commend ‘… the contribution that the Council’s Internal Audit section has made to the overall audit process.’
Councillor Chris Williams, Chairman of the Accounts Committee and Cabinet lead member for Finance says "It is absolutely right and proper that every penny of taxpayers money we spend is accounted for correctly and represents value for money. The work of the Audit Commission is a very valuable independent check in this respect and their comments are helpful to the journey of improvement we are making already".
