Resource accounting and budgeting (RAB)

Training for the Senior Civil Service (SCS)

SCS members will increasingly have access to new information generated by RAB and RAB­-based information will increasingly be used by the Treasury and Parliament. Responsibility for training rests with departments, but this note is intended to remind SCS members that the long-running preparation phase is coming to an end and that training will be highly desirable. It also suggests ways of obtaining the knowledge required not only to understand the information, but to use it.

Training for what?

RAB has a number of different aspects, not all of which will require formal training. For example, those who have worked on the Output and Performance Analyses (OPAs) have not only "prepared for RAB@ on the job but worked on one aspect of it.

The 1999 resource budgeting dry run, which has included a training element, has already drawn in a number of SCS members. But for many, the first specific stimulus to use RAB information will be the 2000 spending review which will set the level of departmental resources for the years 2001-4. The form of the review will be decided towards the end of 1999, but whatever the final decisions internal departmental briefing may well have to be supplemented by more formal training. When the first published resource accounts appear later in 2000, those who appear before Select Committees are also likely to need additional training.

More generally the production of RAB information will provide the opportunity to use resource-based information inside departments.  It may be helpful to give a few illustrations of the kinds of questions which can be addressed, or might be addressed to the department:

-           What action have we taken to reduce future capital charges in planning our capital expenditure?

-           The depreciation figure is higher than capital expenditure. Does that mean the department is running down its assets?

-           What action has the departments taken to reduce its working capital?

-           Why are our full costs higher than those of an outside provider?

-           Does the use of resources in Schedule 5 tie in with departmental objectives and the PSA?

-           Why is the Parliamentary request for resources higher than the cash requirement?

Such discussions will be more informed after some formal training, which should seek to reflect the requirements of those involved as closely as possible. Training that is too general ("accountancy for non-financial managers") or too linked to the private sector ("company budgets for beginners") may well be a waste of scarce time. The training will also need to be linked to the decisions to be taken. For example those involved in costing alternative policies will need background briefing to show the relationship between cash costs and accruals-based costs.

When should training take place?

Experience has shown that it is important not to train too far in advance of need. This means that the timing of any additional training should be carefully judged to be very near the arrival of the relevant information. For the 2000 spending review, the gap between the form of the review being known (following the results of the 1999 pilot) and the start of the process is likely to be short. The safest assumption on the basis of current information is January 2000 and if there is going to be formal training involving groups of officials, departments should consider penciling in a date as soon as possible. The Treasury has also asked departments about what would be useful as further briefing on the 2000 review.

For the use of management information within the department, training should again take place just before the information is made available to senior management, at the latest by April 2000.

How should training take place?

"Training" will come in many forms, and while courses may well form part of training, training should not be confused with "courses". Internal departmental briefing will be essential but may not be enough, and a number of departments have already offered familiarisation or other courses for senior officials. Examples include seminars for senior officials by the DfEE and DETR, Management Board seminars by MAFF and more general use of the spending review dry run as a training focus. RAB courses are available from the Civil Service College. For those who find it difficult attend formal training, departmental training material should be considered and/or more general literature, including specialist books on RAB, the first of which has recently been published by the Civil Service College.

Finally

For departments or individuals seeking advice on preparation for RAB in relation to their own responsibilities, I, or Kevin Ross, Head of the Development of Accountancy Resource Team here in the Treasury, will be happy to help. Kevin has a great deal of information on specific forms of training available.

Andrew Likierman

Head of the Government Accountancy Service

H M Treasury