Future Focused Finance PHIL LEWIS

Ah! The Future Jet-packs; hover boards; moon bases; flights to Mars; fridges that order refills every time you run out of something and all sorts of hi-tech goodies. But, as Meat Loaf put it, the future just ain’t what it used to be.

That future is for dreamers, who usually don’t do anything to make it happen, but just sit back and wait for someone else to deliver their dreams. One thing I know about the future, it’s where I’m going to live the rest of my life so I want to make the most of it.

It’s all too easy to think that all the new gadgets and gizmos are the answer to all our problems, we have a habit of blaming our accounting system for our problems, it’s not fast enough, it doesn’t give us the reports we want.

That future is for dreamers, who usually don’t do anything to make it happen, but just sit back and wait for someone else to deliver their dreams. One thing I know about the future, it’s where I’m going to live the rest of my life so I want to make the most of it. It’s all too easy to think that all the new gadgets and gizmos are the answer to all our problems, we have a habit of blaming our accounting system for our problems, it’s not fast enough, it doesn’t give us the reports we want. Anybody remember when getting a trial balance out of the accounting system meant feeding in a fresh box of tractor-fold paper in the evening, and, if the paper didn’t jam, you’d have an empty box and a printed trial balance in the morning? So maybe our technology’s not so bad after all. Securing excellence is about getting what we want out of what we’ve got.

If we’ve got the right equipment, what’s wrong? Well the computer companies used to mention the hardware, the software and the wetware – the users of their systems. Whilst it’s difficult – not to mention expensive - to influence the hardware and software, we have a great deal of influence over the wetware. To be fair, the NHS invests a lot in training and developing its finance staff, encouraging them to get relevant formal qualifications; and NHS staff have an excellent pass record. That’s not to say there’s not scope for improvement. My area for concern would be around the non-finance staff that make use of the system. The requisitioners and budget holders.

There’s no doubt that the NHS has excellent clinicians who know the business of healthcare, but there seems to be an ingrained attitude of let’s get the work done, and we’ll worry about the accounting afterwards. There also seems to be a widely- held perception that finance staff will put obstacles in the way. This leads to expenditure that is not properly authorised and the finance team having to post correction journals; it may also contravene competition law.

Further, there seems to be an aversion to all things finance and even a tendency to produce “internal” reports rather than asking finance to provide the appropriate figures. These internal reports may or may not tie back to the ledger.

What can we do about it? We can send them all on finance courses…No, no no! Not a good idea, if they’d wanted a career in finance they probably wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing now.

The alternatives?  Talk to the budget holders, explain their responsibilities.

The alternatives?  Talk to the budget holders, explain their responsibilities.  Coaching for requisitioners, ask them what’s causing them difficulties and talk them through it.

The alternatives?  Talk to the budget holders, explain their responsibilities.  Coaching for requisitioners, ask them what’s causing them difficulties and talk them through it.  Repeat as necessary! Don’t stop just as you’re getting to know them!

The alternatives?  Talk to the budget holders, explain their responsibilities.  Coaching for requisitioners, ask them what’s causing them difficulties and talk them through it.  Repeat as necessary! Don’t stop just as you’re getting to know them!  Include a finance representative when setting up a project team to deliver objectives. Someone to confirm that the figures used are correct and stack up. Who knows, with the correct information they might come to a decision sooner and be able to fulfil their potential by concentrating on their own areas of expertise!

This is easy! So why haven’t we done this before?

The Past The past has been all about the past, how did we perform last week, last month, last year? We’ve asked someone to carry out a service, what do we need to do now to get them paid? I’ve got an invoice, how do I raise an order to get it paid

The Future In future we need to educate people to build up an understanding among finance stakeholders so instead of reacting to events, they include finance milestones in their planning process. When a service requirement is identified, the first step is to follow the procurement process. Do we need to go to tender? If so then this will extend the lead-in time for the new service by several weeks. Is the supplier on the system? Again, if they’re not, then the purchase order process will be extended.

This is the sort of advice that finance staff can provide, if they’re asked! But they haven’t got the time I hear you say. On the other hand, if they weren’t spending so much time correcting mistakes, then just maybe…

…and who knows, if finance staff feel more included in the general running scheme of things, then they might finally realise that the NHS is a great place to work!