Financial Decision Making for the Public Sector

Topics covered

• Financial governance for decision making
  • Fit-for-purpose governance framework
• Financial acumen for decision making
  • Signing off on general purpose financial reports
  • Budgeting to support accurate financial forecasting and management reporting
  • Understanding and applying financial ratios
• Financial sustainability
  • Ratios and other analysis
• Asset management concepts and principles
  • Government business case and procurement guidelines
  • Asset lifespan costing decisions
  • Service level decisions to drive asset management
• Financial statements, decisions and asset management

Who should attend?

This course is designed for finance staff and decision makers who are responsible for financial risk management or the financial evaluation of projects.

No prior knowledge of the topics is assumed, however participants with previous experience in these fields may benefit from the course to refresh and extend their understanding.

Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:

• Understand an efficient financial governance framework
• Recognise the key drivers of financial risk management and financial sustainability
• Build confidence in analysing financial information and financially sustainable decision-making
• Use tools and techniques to measure, summarise, and assess financial performance, delivering value-for-money outcomes

Practical exercises

Participants will work individually and in small teams to analyse a public sector organisation’s financial performance. The exercises will give participants an opportunity to discuss and apply techniques in a practical context to inform sustainable financial decision making.

Delivery structure

This course is delivered in a format that provides multiple touchpoints and reflective activities to apply the learnings in your work context.

Note: Delivered on non-consecutive days. Refer to calendar for delivery dates.

• Day 1: Full-day, in-person, UQ Brisbane City campus
• Self-paced online learning activity (approximately 3-4 hours)
• Day 2: 3-hour virtual session

Commitment to all sessions within this course is essential for an optimised learning experience.