CIPFA Speaks

AI isn’t coming, it’s already here. But what does that really mean for public finance leaders? How can they adopt AI successfully, shape how its governed and use it to deliver lasting public value? In this episode of CIPFA Speaks, we sit down with Amanda Grant (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-grant-6b439417/) , Chief Product Officer at OneAdvanced (https://www.oneadvanced.com/) and Florenc...

💬"It is utterly clear that no government can - or should - spend its way out of the challenges we face." As services stretch to breaking point, it’s clear that systemic reform, not just short-term fixes, is the only way forward. 🎙️In this episode of #CIPFASpeaks, we sit down with CIPFA (https://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa) CEO Owen Mapley (https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-mapley-036b781a/) to d...

Despite a 58% increase in SEND funding, outcomes for children, young people, and families have failed to improve over the past decade. Meanwhile, councils still face immense financial strain. 💭Where is the system falling short, and what can the government do to drive real change? 🎙️In this month’s episode of #CIPFASpeaks, we dive into the urgent reforms needed to create a fairer, more financi...

With public sector reform on the cards, robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks will be essential to turn ambition into real impact. But how can the government effectively assess public spending to drive change? In this month’s episode of CIPFA Speaks, we explore how and why solid monitoring and evaluation frameworks are key to the success of the government's mission-led initiatives, parti...

As artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies rapidly advance, what does this mean for public services—and how can public finance professionals ensure new technologies truly benefit society? In this month’s episode of CIPFA Speaks, we tackle the transformative potential of AI alongside the ethical and social challenges it poses. Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE (https://www.linkedin.com...

Whether it’s threats to democracy or the rise of populism, public trust in governments, the public sector, and public officials is more important than ever. One of the key threats to that trust is corruption. But how can public sector organisations spot and manage corruption risks before they take root? In this month’s episode of CIPFA Speaks, we dive into the vital role of Corruption Risk Ma...

Why are 75% of local authority budgets consumed by social care? What steps can the government take to rein in escalating costs and meet growing demand? And how can public finance professionals ease pressures on local authorities? In this month’s episode, we tackle the urgent need for change in adult and children’s social care—a system that places unsustainable strain on local governments and t...

Why do different areas of the UK approach climate change differently? How can the UK government and local authorities grow in a sustainable manner? And what can be done to ensure sustainability is at the heart of decision-making? With a new government and new growth plan emerging at a time when the world undergoes rapid structural change from climate, technology, and demographic forces, the pu...

Tune in for an exclusive interview with outgoing CIPFA CEO Rob Whiteman for heartfelt insights into Rob's personal life and talents away from work. Amid a time of tumultuous political change, we sat down with him as he prepares to pass the baton to his successor, Owen Mapley. Rob reflects on his decade-long tenure at the helm of the institute, sharing his proudest achievement at CIPFA, greates...

Why hasn’t levelling up worked as promised? How will the next government address capacity issues and create knowledge exchange? We have just seen the election results for local and mayoral elections in May as we look forward to the general election this year. Which is why, in this month’s episode, experts from academia, think-tank and local authority come together to address what the next gove...

How can local government support you to live a life in good health? On World Health Day 2024, we're championing public sector preventative measures in alignment with World Health Organisation (https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2024/04/07/default-calendar/world-health-day-2024-my-health-my-right) ’s (WHO) theme of ‘my health, my right’. Hear from Chair of CIPFA’s prevention project R...

Who are some of the women shaping the future of public finance? In this Women's History Month special, join us in celebrating the remarkable achievements and contributions of women in public finance and accountancy. We sit down with three women from across the three pillars of our organisation: CIPFA Develops, CIPFA Solutions and CIPFA Thinks. Up first, we hear from President of the CIPFA Stud...

Welcome back to CIPFA Speaks. In this episode, we discuss how teams can best prepare for the implementation of the international financial reporting standard (IFRS) 16. There’s just over 1 month to go before this new accounting requirement on leases will be mandatory from the 1st of April 2024. So, now is the time to take stock of preparations. We are joined by David Ellis, a Financial Adviso...

Welcome back to CIPFA Speaks! In this episode, we explore adult social care charging reforms. We are joined by Karen Fuller, Corporate Director for Adult Social Care at Oxfordshire County Council. Karen shares their experience as one of the six trailblazers who implemented the reforms earlier than the rest of the country. Next up, we hear from Dr William Burns, CIPFA Social Care Policy Adviso...

CIPFA and ICAEW recently announced a joint declaration, which will provide many benefits for the members and students for both Institutes. On this episode, we hear from CIPFA CEO, Rob Whiteman and CIPFA's Head of Qualifications and Membership, Anna Howard. They give an insight into what the joint declaration means and how it will help drive the public finance profession forward. You can find ...

This month on CIPFA Speaks! we are focusing on all things tech in celebration of CIPFA's recently released blockchain report (https://www.cipfa.org/cipfa-thinks/insight) . We are joined by Jeffrey Matsu, CIPFA's Chief Economist, who is in conversation with Mehdi Shiva, who is a Research Leader at RAND Europe (https://www.rand.org/randeurope.html) . In addition, we hear from Caitlin Bentley, wh...

This episode was recorded across both days of Public Finance Live 2023 in London. We were lucky enough to speak with some of the fantastic speakers from the event. In this episode, we hear from Dharshini David, Economist and Broadcaster, Tom Burgis, Journalist and Author and Caroline Atkinson, Senior Global Strategist at RockCreek Asset Management. Please rate, review and subscribe and don't ...

On May's episode of CIPFA Speaks! the International Team are taking over and bringing us two fantastic guests who both have a wealth of experience in public finance. We'll hear from Manj Kalar who is Director at Kalar Consulting and has 30 years’ experience gained across the public sector. In addition, we speak to Arjonela Dedja, who is Project Manager and Programme Facilitator at the Center o...

On this special episode of CIPFA Speaks! we discuss all things sustainability. We're joined by CIPFA's Nina Johansson and Jeffrey Matsu, who discuss their recent sustainability reports. We also hear from Jonathan Woods, a Newly Qualified Accountant from Cambridgeshire County Council. Lastly, we speak to Peter Eckersley from Nottingham Trent University. Don't forget to follow us on social medi...

On this month's episode of CIPFA Speaks! we're focusing on council tax. The government recently released their data on levels of council tax across the country and how it has changed. In addition, CIPFA's annual council tax survey came to a close, finding significant disparities in levels of council tax across England and Wales. Council tax has been raised across the board as councils struggle...

On January's episode of CIPFA Speaks! we introduce CIPFA's new Director of Public Financial Management, Iain Murray. He gives an overview of his career and tells us what sparked his move to CIPFA. We're also joined by Andy Burns, CIPFA's Associate Director, who discusses CIPFA's financial resilience index. To find out more about the resilience index, visit CIPFA's website (https://www.cipfa.or...

On this month's episode of CIPFA Speaks! we're joined by John Baker, Independent Anti-Fraud Consultant, and Nieves Zuniga, Research and Evaluation Consultant, who discuss anti-corruption and fraud to celebrate CIPFA's new anti-corruption compendium. In addition, we hear from CIPFA's Health and Social Care Policy Manager, Ellie Roy, and CIPFA's Associate Director, Andy Burns about CIPFA's new i...

On this special edition of CIPFA Speaks! we hear from black people working across CIPFA and in the public sector. We spoke with Lorraine Ashley, CIPFA's International Project Coordinator, Peninah Achieng-Kindberg, Senior Finance Business Partner at Ministry of Justice UK and Joe Sealy, Chair of the CIPFA board and Co-founder and COO of Greater Pacific Capital. Previous episodes of CIPFA Speak...

On this month's episode we are joined by CIPFA CEO Rob Whiteman who reflects on the monumental changes that have recently occurred in the UK. We also speak with Ian Taylor who authored the report Partnerships in Place: the business of levelling up, the full report can be accessed on the Business in the Community website (https://www.bitc.org.uk/report/partnerships-in-place-the-business-of-leve...

In this month's episode we are joined by Gamal Turawa, or 'G' as he likes to be known, who discusses his career in the Metropolitan Police Service and talks about his experiences delivering diversity and inclusion awareness training. In addition, we hear from Marc McAuley, CIPFA's Counter Fraud Manager who talks about managing fraud and corruption in the context of public finance. Lastly, we'...

In this special edition recorded from PF Live 2022 in Liverpool we're joined by some of the guest speakers from the event. They are BBC Newsnight Economics Editor Ben Chu, writer and journalist John Harris, former Secretary of State Justine Greening, co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation Angus Hanton and Head of the Government Internal Audit Agency Elizabeth Honer.

In this episode we’re joined by CIPFA’s Local Government Policy Manager, Jo Pitt, who introduces CIPFA’s guide on local authority owned companies. We also speak to Perry Holmes, who is Director of Legal and Governance at Wiltshire Council. He provides an insight into his experience of local authority owned companies and shares some best practices.   We’re also joined by Alston Owens, who is Ma...

In this episode we're joined by Rod Penman who is Head of Public Services at Zurich Municipal. He tells us about the three biggest risks facing local authorities, and how cutting back on insurance premiums to save money is a red herring. We're also joined by Liz Sandwith from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors. She explains how having robust and effective internal audit is vital for ...

In this episode we speak to Nina Johansson who is CIPFA's new Sustainability Advisor. She explains why sustainability reporting in the public sector is so important if we are to reach net zero. Next we hear from Hannah Brown from the National Infrastructure Commission and Professor Anne Green from the University of Birmingham who talk about the power of infrastructure to level up the country. ...

On this special episode, in celebration of Women's History Month, we only invited women to speak on the show. Our first guest was Erica Roscoe, senior research fellow at IPPR North. Erica discussed the recent 'State of the North: Powering Northern Excellence' report she worked on, levelling up and how regional divides can worsen existing inequalities.    Our second speakers were Jess Bowie a...

Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at the Centre for Cities, talks to us about some of the challenges of levelling up in the UK and the link between productivity and a city's size.   Next we are joined by Dr Abigail Taylor, from City-REDI at the University of Birmingham, who co-authored CIPFA's 'Investing in Regional Equality' report. She shares some insights into producing the repor...

On this episode of CIPFA Speaks! we were joined by Joanne Pitt, CIPFA's Local Government Policy Manager and Marcus Richards, Director at EY, to discuss resilience in the local government sector and CIPFA's recently released Financial Resilience Index. On the second part of the episode, CIPFA Chief Economist Jeffrey Matsu spoke to co-founder and President of the Democracy Collaborative, Ted How...

In this end of year episode we spoke to Kirsty Stanners, CIPFA's new Head of Policy and Technical to discuss her new role and her experience. We were also joined by editor of Public Finance Magazine, Colin Marrs. He went over the biggest news stories of last year and his expectations for reporting in 2022. Finally, we had a chat with CIPFA's Katja Lamers, who tells us about CIPFA's exciting n...

We are joined by two very special guests in this sustainability focused episode. First we talk to James Alexander, who is the CEO of UKSIF, about what it means for companies to transititon to net zero. After that we hear from the Deputy Director of the National Audit Office of Finland, Vivi Niemenmaa, who tells us about the work she has been doing in global auditing in the age of climate change.

In this episode, we hear from CIPFA's Chief Economist Jeff Matsu and Associate Director of the Institute for Government Graham Atkins, who share their thoughts on the spending review. We are also joined by Joseph Holmes, CFO of West Berkshire Council, to talk about his winning sustainability project at the Public Finance awards.

This episode features interviews with Samantha Musoke (Project Manager at Humentum), Joanne Pitt (CIPFA Local Government Policy Manager) and Dr Eleanor Roy (CIPFA Health and Social Care Policy Manager). First up is a discussion and update about the joint CIPFA and Humentum IFR4NPO project, ahead of Charity Fraud Awareness Week. Part two of this episode explores views from CIPFA’s policy team o...

In today's episode we will be talking with Richard LLoyd-Bithell, Senior Technical Manager at CIPFA, about CIPFA's revisions to the Treasury Management and Prudential Codes. Our second guest is Rizwana Tabassum, Research Analyst at World Bank, discussing CIPFA's work to strengthen public financial management in Bangladesh.

This week's episode focuses on the recent GO Lab-CIPFA collaboration on the Value for Money Toolkit and the Legatum Institute's Prosperity Index. Medhi Shiva, Economist at GO Lab Daniel Herring, Senior Analyst and Programme Manager at the Legatum Institute

This week's sustainability episode focuses on the NAO's Local Government and Net Zero in England report, as well as CIPFA's recent sustainability reporting research.  Keith Davis, Director, Defra value for money, UK National Audit Office Ravi Abeywardana, Technical Director, Climate Disclosure Standards Board Jeffrey Matsu, Chief Economist, CIPFA

This week's 'student takeover' episode focuses on what 'the future CFO' needs to know. We're joined by: Andy Hardy, immediate past President of CIPFA Councillor Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council Suki Binjal, Director of Law, Corporate Governance and Elections at Lewisham Council

Welcome back to CIPFA Speaks! In this week's episode, were joined by Ian Carruthers to discuss the latest CIPFA/IFAC Accountability Index, as well as Jeffrey Matsu (CIPFA, Chief Economist) and Ben Franklin (Centre for Progressive Policy, Head of Research) to explore levelling up.  Find out more: CIPFA/IFAC Accountability Index (https://www.ifac.org/knowledge-gateway/supporting-international-s...

This week's packed episode covers a sneak peek of our upcoming annual conference, Public Finance Live, some tips and tricks for local authority capital strategies, and lessons learned from recent public interest reports.  Featured guests: Aasmah Mir (Presenter, Times Radio) Tim Seagrave (Group Finance Lead for Capital and Treasury Management, Manchester City Council) Paul Dossett (Partner, ...

This week's episode focuses on all things international. We were joined by Khalid Hamid (CIPFA International Director), Jasmina Popović (CEF Program Officer), Tim Youngberry (CIPFA Associate) and Gordon Ferrier (CIPFA Associate), touching on the upcoming CIPFA-CEF international conference, sustainability reporting in the public sector and CIPFA's international advisory work. Find out more: CIP...

This week's episode focuses on all things procurement across the public sector. We were joined by Mohamed Hans (Procurement Network Adviser, CIPFA), Lianne Deeming (CEO, Blue Light Commercial) and Fiona Hunt (Spend Network), touching on policing, the procurement Green Paper and gender bias in government procurement. Don't forget, CIPFA's annual conference Public Finance Live is back face to fa...

This week's episode is a health and social care special, honing in on the recent NHS White Paper on health and social care integration. Joining us this episode are CIPFA President Andy Hardy, CFO of Manchester City Council Carol Culley, and author and former public policy editor of the Financial Times Nicholas Timmins. Find out more: NHS White Paper: Working together to improve health and soci...

This week's episode of CIPFA Speaks is a student takeover! CIPFA Student Network (CSN) Communications Officer Lauren Gough quizzes the experts on all the revision tips students need to know.  Contact CSN: Email: csn@cipfa.org Twitter (https://twitter.com/CIPFAstudents) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/cipfa-student-network/?viewAsMember=true)

Welcome back to CIPFA Speaks! This week, we were joined by CIPFA's Senior Technical Manager, Richard Lloyd-Bithell to discuss the new Prudential Code consultation. This episode also includes an update on the Achieving Finance Excellence in Policing (AFEP) programme, by Amie Bridson, CIPFA's Senior Business Development Manager and Neil Chamberlain, Director of Commercial Services at West Midlan...

Welcome back to CIPFA Speaks! This week, we were joined by Shadow Local Government Minister Kate Hollern MP and CIPFA Local Government Policy Manager Joanne Pitt to talk all thing council tax.  Find out more: CIPFA Council Tax Survey 2021 (https://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa/press-office/latest-press-releases/average-council-tax-in-england) CIPFA council tax briefing (https://www.cipfa.org/cip...

Welcome back to CIPFA Speaks! This week's packed episode featured CIPFA CEO Rob Whiteman with his reflections on the 2021 Budget, Libraries Connected on the impact of COVID-19 on libraries, and CIPFA student Faye Revely joined us for our recurring segment on working from home in public finance. Find out more: The Budget (https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/budget-2021) CIPFA: Manches...

Welcome back to CIPFA Speaks!  This week's episode is all about talent, featuring Lauren Gough from the CIPFA Student Network, trainee accountant Catherine Hodgkinson and Assistant Director of Finance Hamant Bharadia from Lambeth Council, and CIPFA member Alston Owens on diversity in the workforce. Find out more: CIPFA Student Network Website (https://www.cipfa.org/members/student-network) ...