A three-month contract to co-ordinate the 2006-07 Forward Look Annual Efficiency Statement introduced by the ODPM, following the Gershon Report on efficiency savings in the public sector. Also carried out a preliminary review of actual out-turn for 2005-06. Worked with Finance Managers to set up an audit trail, involving non-financial data, to assess levels of service. Designed Business Objects report so that cashable savings could be assessed on a consistent and regular basis. Drafted quarterly efficiency reporting procedure. Handed over responsibilities to permanaent member of staff.
Since the project involved waiting for others to provide information, I spent time creating a 20-page guide to the council’s Finance Manual. Also reformatted the complete Finance Manual.

Appointed to cover for the Depute Director on long-term sick leave, I arrived one month after the newly-appointed Director of Finance. For 10 months prior to her arrival there had been no director of finance and little or no financial control. We were faced with a situation where procedures were slack, deadlines were ignored and team morale was at rock bottom.
My initial task was to co-ordinate the completion of the year-end accounts. The Board had already posted a deficit for 03-04 so the result for 04-05 was under close scrutiny – not least from the local press, who published a critical front-page article almost every week. We pulled the figures together with some difficulty – another deficit – and it became clear that finance staff did not understand each other’s part of the process and there were serious shortcomings in their knowledge of the ledger and reporting systems.
The next task was the operating budget. Although we were well into the financial year, nothing had been prepared and budget holders were not receiving reports. An interim budget has now been completed and we are presenting the information to budget holders. It will be done very much better for next year, and the budgeting process will begin before Christmas this time.
Monthly returns for the Scottish Office had been prepared as a duty rather than an information tool and the same applied to the Cost Book. I reorganised the preparation of both these documents with a detailed audit trail so that all figures could be verified and relied upon.
I employed two additional experienced temporary staff: one to co-ordinate the budget and investigate anomalies arising from it, the other to design and document procedures and implement them. We now close the books on a set day every month – previously two or three months would remain open at the same time. We reconcile bank accounts every month instead of every year, and we do monthly accruals as well.
All this took place against a background of supplementary investigations by Audit Scotland into our problems with the year-end. (Before I arrived a surplus for the year had been predicted: the actual figure was three times the size but a deficit.) Internal investigations have followed and these may lead on to disciplinary hearings. I have been involved as a witness. Also on the HR front I have been involved in the preparation and submission of job specs and person specs within Agenda for Change, as well as training to prepare KSF outlines.

I leave the assignment at the end of November after an agreed 6 months. The Director of Finance believes that it will be a three-year project to turn things round. I am confident that my contribution has set things well on the way.

Working in the contract accounts section, I was initially involved in reconciling PCT accounts. This led on to work in support of the Assistant Director of Planning and Performance at the regular review meetings with the Finance and Commissioning officers from the PCTs. This related to assessing the outturn for the year and providing back-up detail for items under query. I also assisted Planning and Performance to draw up proposed PCT contracts for 2005-06. Substantial balances remained unpaid by certain PCTs and I prepared detailed reconciliations, drafted proposals for settlement and attended face to face meetings to negotiate agreement.

The Council had recently introduced new procurement and financial control procedures. a. I set up workshops addressed by the Director of Procurement, the Chief Accountant, the Chief Internal Auditor and the Director of Strategy. My role was to be facilitator and as “rapporteur” to provide a summary of the day’s proceedings. I designed the handouts, produced a graphical analysis of the feedback forms and developed an Access database to control attendance. Each department within the Council has its own section of the intranet. I was asked to provide ideas for the redesign of the Finance Department’s pages in consultation with the section managers and the IT department. As part of the review of Key Performance Indicators I worked with section managers to assess the reportability of KPIs, their relevance to the changing organisation and consistency with other sections.

Publisher, editor and co-author of “The Business Detective’s Casebook – a guide to success”

Initially I was involved in the budget creation process for the Housing Revenue Account, the Council’s major activity. Working closely with the Director of Housing and the Housing Manager, we tested the assumptions in the previous year’s budgets and modified projections in the light of known changes, including modifications to the Excel model as required. Responsible for co-ordinating the budget input from the managers of Community Safety and Leisure Departments. As a separate exercise I worked on the reconciliation of the Furnished Tenancies Account, liaising with the Housing, Benefits and Finance departments to determine why the account had got out of balance and proposing a system to ensure that it would be regularly checked and reconciled.

Development of multi-media, multilingual euro training products, followed by implementation and management of three pan European training programmes (100% on time, on budget)
2001 – 2003
Following the successful introduction of the euro to the 12 countries in January 2002, the company repositioned itself as a specialist in internal business communications. Projects include facilitated workshops for the Department of International Development, and a major industrial group in Belgium.
1998/2001 Euro Projects
The first project was initiated by Bass Hotels and Resorts, who wanted to prepare their hotel staff throughout Europe for the launch of the euro on 1/1/99. The project had an immovable deadline and had to be carried out within strict budgets. In fact, training of personnel in Holiday Inns, InterContinental Hotels and the Crowne Plaza chain was completed by the second week of December 1998. The team moved on to develop and deliver a similar project for Radisson SAS Hotels Worldwide in early 1999, followed by our second-largest project, for Sheraton Hotels. Related services were provided to the Ford Motor Company and Gillette. Total billing for the projects exceeded £750,000.The assignments involved:
• Membership of the euro steering committee
• Field research
• Design and development of a unique multi-media, multilingual training programme for each client
• Design and development of all supporting documentation in appropriate languages.
• Assembling, training and managing an international team of consultants
• Planning delivery schedules to fit in with each location's requirements
• Delivering the programme to 75,000 personnel in 18 countries and 13 language versions.
As proprietor of Cyber Associates Ltd, I personally took responsibility for the projects, including total financial responsibility

• Selection and implementation of comprehensive project management tool (Innate) in order to improve resource planning, productivity measurement and cost control.
• Designed and implemented time accounting system
• Implemented SAP R/3 purchasing and material reception modules within IT division
• Prepared 1998 operating budget for IT division
• Designed and implemented management information system for Marketing Division (Excel linked to TM/1 server)

• Member of team responsible for upgrading, replacing and disposing of workstations in preparation for NT 4.0 roll-out
• Liaison with production, operations, inventory management
• Co-ordination of sub-contractor responsible for secure data deletion
• Management of resale invoicing and in-house staff purchase scheme
• Design and implementation of inventory control database (MS Access)

• Initially retained to coordinate divisional budget preparation: data collection, input and special analyses and reports for management. Prepared assessment of SWIFT budgeting procedure.
• Completed audit of major software development project.
• Subsequently worked in Project Administration Office on redesign of project control systems and detailed manpower analysis (both design and interpretation of results.)
• Carried out audit of fixed asset inventory within SWIFT HQ, leading team of outside specialists