One Stop Update for the Accountant in the Public Sector

About

A comprehensive One Stop Updates bringing you key updates on the issues affecting the public sector accountant:

 The Economic Outlook
 Accounting Standards Update
 Tax
 Employment Law

Speakers include:

Lyn Provost, Controller and Auditor General
Martin Matthews, Chief Executive, Ministry of Transport
Shirley Smith, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Internal Affairs
Shamubeel Eaqub, Principal Economist, NZIER
Stuart Mutch, Partner and Ravi Kumar, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young
John Ivil, Manager All of Government Contracts, Ministry of Economic Development
Andrew Babbage and Allan Bullot, Partners, Deloitte
Susan Hornsby-Geluk, Partner, Chen Palmer
Sue Rissman, Regional Director for Social Development for Canterbury and Anne Stevenson, National Manager for Emergency Management, Ministry of Social Development
Ian Lines, National Productivity Manager, Skills4Work

And an interactive mini-skills workshop with performance expert John Shackleton on providing leadership in times of uncertainty.


Masterclass

Post-conference MASTERCLASS

Methodologies for Determining Value for Money Masterclass

The requirement to do more for less will see increased pressure on the public sector to provide high quality services and reduce waste. This full-day Masterclass will give an overview of the concepts, methodologies and issues, and give real examples of demonstrating Value for Money in the state sector

  • Definitions and concepts
  • Techniques for calculating value for money for small agencies
  • Techniques for calculating value for Money for large agencies and sectors
  • The pitfalls and benefits of the different methodologies
  • Recap of main points

Facilitated by Greg Claridge, Director, Bakker Maniparathy Claridge

Agenda

Agenda: Day 1

8.30

Registration & Coffee

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Alastair Boult, National Director; Government Advisory, Grant Thornton

9.10

The Public Sector One Stop Economic Update

This essential economic update for the public sector will look at latest developments and the future outlook.
• Current risks to the Government’s aim of returning to surplus by 2015
• The continuing need to check Government spending
• The effects of Christchurch
• The implications of continued overseas uncertainty for New Zealand

Shamubeel Eaqub, Principal Economist, NZIER

10.00

Morning break & refreshments

10.20

Keynote: Public Sector One Stop Update: Office of the Auditor-General

The Auditor-General will give an overview of her time in office and the challenges for the year ahead.
• Developing a holistic view of the public sector
• Improving service performance and reporting
• Areas of focus for 2012-2013: Our future needs – is the public sector ready?

Lyn Provost, Controller and Auditor General

Speaker has declined permission for her material to be online

11.20

All-of-government procurement for the finance team

In this session we examine the Government Procurement Reform Programme and how ‘all-of-government procurement’ processes and outcomes are taking some of the costs out of procurement while improving service.
• A structured and strategic approach to procurement
• What are the benefits for suppliers?
• The benefits of ‘all-of-government procurement’ for government agencies of all sizes and plans for expanding the scheme
• The pitfalls and benefits of a centralised approach

John Ivil, Manager All of Government Contracts, Ministry of Economic Development

12.10

Lunch

1.10

Case study: Managing public sector amalgamations

With more amalgamation and clustering of public sector entities signaled, how is the merger of departments delivering the expected value and efficiencies? We examine the process so far to see where the savings in the costs of service delivery been found while maintaining quality of service.
• Reducing back office costs to deliver efficiencies
• Managing the process of losing and bringing in functions
• Other synergies created by amalgamation
• What we wish we knew then - improving the merging of people and processes

Shirley Smith, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Internal Affairs

2.00

Keynote: Mini-workshop: Leadership in times of insecurity

With a number of changes already underway and more signaled, how can you provide leadership in times of uncertainty and change for the public sector workforce? In this interactive session our performance expert John Shackleton will help you to inspire your team to achieve their best.
• Creating resilience during uncertainty
• Managing change fatigue and cynicism

John Shackleton, The Performance Expert

3.30

Afternoon break & refreshments

3.45

Crisis management and business continuity to ensure delivery of key government services

How did a significant service provider keep going after the disastrous Christchurch earthquake? With the scale of the February quake having the ability to overwhelm the local team on the ground, how was the organisation able to mobilise to provide the support needed for staff and clients?
• The implications of operating in a state of emergency
• The effect of the February earthquake on staff
• Immediate support provided after the quake
• Planning in times of great uncertainty

Sue Rissman, Regional Director for Social Development for Canterbury, Ministry of Social Development
Anne Stevenson, National Manager for Emergency Management, Ministry of Social Development

4.45

End of day one & networking drinks

Agenda: Day 2

9.00

Welcome back from the Chair

Alastair Boult, National Director Government Advisory, Grant Thornton

9.05

The Public Sector One Stop Accounting Standards Update

An update on the proposed changes to the reporting framework for public benefit entities. The new PBE framework is expected to be effective for financial years beginning on or after 1 July 2013 for public sector PBEs and 1 July 2014 for private sector not-for profit entities. For large and medium-sized PBEs, accounting standards will be based on IPSAS and modified to be appropriate for the New Zealand context. Small PBEs will apply a simple format reporting framework. This session will discuss:
• A summary of the proposed changes to the reporting framework for PBEs
• Key differences between current IFRS for PBEs and IPSAS
• Key impacts - getting ready for the new PBE framework

Stuart Mutch, Partner, Ernst & Young
Ravi Kumar, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young

10.05

Morning break & refreshments

10.25

Public Sector One Stop Tax Update

The tax team from Deloitte will give an update on current taxation issues affecting public sector entities including the growing expectations on large entities to demonstrate clear tax risk management as well as an overview of recent changes including:
• Latest GST developments
• Recent tax decisions
• Employment-related tax issues
• Changes to ECST and the taxation of superannuation

Andrew Babbage, Partner, Deloitte
Allan Bullot, Partner, Deloitte

11.15

Public Sector One Stop Employment Law Update

There have been some significant changes in Employment Law over the past year, including amendments to the legislation and Court decisions which have had a substantial impact on employer relationships. This session will provide an overview of what employers need to know to reduce legal risk and ensure they comply with their obligations.
• Legislative reform
• The new test for dismissal
• The 90 day-trial period
• Redundancy and redeployment obligations
• Collective bargaining and good faith
• Employee Incentive Schemes and Remuneration arrangements

Susan Hornsby-Geluk, Partner, Chen Palmer

12.15

Lunch break

1.15

The value of Lean Thinking for public sector finance

Lean Thinking is an increasingly popular method of managing an organisation to improve the productivity, efficiency and quality of its services. The emphasis is on meeting the demand of the users as opposed to ‘pushing’ the service. In the context of the finance function, it is about only producing information when there is a need for it. How can this be applied in the public sector?
• What is Lean Thinking?
• How to implement Lean Thinking in a public sector environment
• Lean Thinking milestones

Ian Lines, National Productivity Manager, Skills4Work

2.15

Improving the statement of service performance

Central agencies and the Auditor-General have expressed concern about the quality of non-financial performance information provided in statements of service performance. We look at how this important document can be improved to get good performance information and help meet expectations about outcomes.

Greg Claridge, Director, Bakker Maniparathy Claridge

3.05

Afternoon break & refreshments

3.25

Cross-agency approaches to determining value for money

A key area of focus for the Government is for departments to be able to relate their activities to outcomes and be able to measure them. This includes being able to demonstrate the most effective use of resources. In this session we look at the approaches used to assess value for money. With oversight responsibility for a number of Crown entities, how are they collaborating to determine where to put their resources to get the best returns?
• Improving linkages between funding and results
• Providing more for less while maintaining service and safety

Martin Matthews, Chief Executive, Ministry of Transport

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