Financial governance
- Governance and Accountability [FMSiS] SUMMARY GUIDANCE
- Whistleblowing Policy [FMSiS] SUMMARY GUIDANCE
- Role of the governing body and its committees [FMSiS] SUMMARY GUIDANCE
- Governing Body Financial Management Competencies and Qualifications [FMSiS] SUMMARY GUIDANCE
- A Brief Guide to the Financial Competencies Needed by the Governing Body [FMSiS] SUMMARY GUIDANCE
- Statement of Internal Control - Pre-Certification Checklist for Governors [FMSiS] CHECKLIST
- Budget Report for Governors [FMSiS] TEMPLATE
- Financial Guidance for Governors [FMSiS] TEMPLATE
- A Guide to the Financial Summaries to be Reported to the Governing Body [FMSiS] DETAILED GUIDANCE
- Best Practice in Self-Evaluation [Ofsted] DETAILED GUIDANCE
- School Improvement through ICT: Guidance for Governors [NGA/Becta] SUMMARY GUIDANCE
- Improving School Performance - a Guide for School Governors [GovernorNet] SUMMARY GUIDANCE, CHECKLIST
Governance and Accountability [FMSiS]
This Summary Guide has been developed by IPF as part of the Toolkit supporting the DCSF Financial Management Standard in Schools. It summarises why governance and accountability is important; the benefits of demonstrating good financial management; and good practice in financial management and the proper governance of resources. Links to more detailed guidance are also provided.(Word 120 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/S1_4.doc
Whistleblowing Policy [FMSiS]
This Summary Guide has been developed by IPF as part of the Toolkit supporting the DCSF Financial Management Standard in Schools. It summarises what whistleblowing is; the importance of whistleblowing to schools; what whistleblowing covers and where to find further information.(PDF 109 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/s1_6.pdf
Role of the governing body and its committees [FMSiS]
This Summary Guide has been developed by IPF as part of the Toolkit supporting the DCSF Financial Management Standard in Schools. It provides good practice on why the roles of governors are important; the statutory position; the benefits of clarifying the financial management role of governors; a summary of the governing body's financial management roles; delegating work to committees; bringing in specialist knowledge; and effective clerking arrangements. Links to more detailed guidance are also provided.(Word 145 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/S1_2.doc
Governing Body Financial Management Competencies and Qualifications [FMSiS]
This Summary Guide has been developed by IPF as part of the Toolkit supporting the DCSF Financial Management Standard in Schools. It provides good practice on why governor financial management competencies are important; the benefits of having good financial management competencies; the financial management competencies the governing body needs; and information about financial training and qualifications for governors. Links to more detailed guidance are also provided.
(PDF 284 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/s2_2.pdf
A Brief Guide to the Financial Competencies Needed by the Governing Body [FMSiS]
This is a matrix that summarises the financial management competencies that best practice determines should be available within the governing body collectively. The matrix sets out four levels of competence - highly competent; competent; developing; and not yet developed, in order to determine the relative financial management skills available within the governing body.(Word 164 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/R20.doc
Statement of Internal Control - Pre-Certification Checklist for Governors [FMSiS]
The Statement of Internal Control (SIC) is designed to accompany the DCSF Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) Return and Financial Summary, and so relates to the same completed financial year. The internal controls it refers to are those required as best practice by the Financial Management Standard in Schools.
The issues for governors and the headteacher to consider before authorising their representatives to the sign the SIC fall into two categories: specific actions and more general control processes that should have occurred during the financial year in question; and specific actions needed after the year end when the CFR Return is available. The checklist questions are split into these two categories for ease of consideration.
(Word 43 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/R15B.doc
Budget Report for Governors [FMSiS]
This is an excel template, showing an example annual school budget for governor approval.(Excel 36 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/r22a.xls
Financial Guidance for Governors [FMSiS]
This is an example summary template on the role of governors, based upon information provided by LB Croydon. It covers the following headings: introduction, the role of the governing body; register of business interests; responsibilities - setting the annual budget; Finance Committee; finance governor/responsible officer; and budget monitoring.(Word 49 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/R32.doc
A Guide to the Financial Summaries to be Reported to the Governing Body [FMSiS]
Under the local authority scheme for financing schools, the Governing Body is responsible for the effective financial management of the budget share allocated to it. The Financial Management Standard in Schools requires schools to demonstrate effective financial management though the preparation of three documents at the year end - the Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) Return, Statement of Internal Control (SIC) and Financial Summary. This guidance (around 20 pages) provides specific guidance on preparing the Financial Summary.(Word 261 KB)
www.fmsis.info/uploads/R33_IPF__Financial_Summaries_Guide_30-3-07.doc
Best Practice in Self-Evaluation [Ofsted]
This report (around 20 pages), published in July 2006, looks at the factors which contribute to effective self-evaluation. It is based on visits to 12 schools, 7 further education colleges and 3 local authorities where previous inspection reports identified strong practice in this area. The findings are intended to disseminate best practice and to provide help to institutions improve this aspect of their work.(PDF 139 KB)
School Improvement through ICT: Guidance for Governors [NGA/Becta]
This is a short guidance document which sets out the importance of using ICT effectively in schools; identifies key questions which governors should ask to monitor whether their school is using ICT effectively; and provides information about the Becta self-review framework, an online tool which allows schools to enables schools to look at ICT across all aspects of school life, rather than view it in isolation.
Although it is not intended that the governing body should carry out the online self-review, the self-review framework can provide the governing body with the evidence it needs to enable it to carry out its strategic functions, to monitor and evaluate progress and make important decisions on spending.
(PDF 416 KB)
www.nga.org.uk/uploads/ICTPRINTABLE.pdf
Improving School Performance - a Guide for School Governors [GovernorNet]
This summary guidance, published by the National Audit Office in May 2006, has been prepared as a reference tool to help governors to identify and tackle the issues that the NAO has found to be important to school performance. The guide is divided into 13 themes, each theme setting out: key questions for governing bodies; facts and figures that give an insight into what's happening across the country; and good practice.(PDF 214 KB)
www.governornet.co.uk/linkAttachments/NAOimprovingperformance.pdf
