Government financial administration strategy 2020, 7/2014
Working Group Memorandum
Summary: The Financial Administration 2020 Project, set up by the Ministry of Finance on 9 October 2012, was tasked with developing a strategy for government financial administration. The strategy drawn up by the Working Group provides direction for the effective management of financial administration and for the development of financial administration as a function supporting management and substantive activities.
The Working Group’s vision for 2020 entails a shift from financial administration to economic governance. This vision is built around the objective of developing the routine production of economic information in such a way that it lends stronger support to decision-making: this can be achieved by developing and automating relevant processes and by readjusting the focus of the work of personnel in financial administration. The information produced in and by economic governance supports management and the application of this information in budgetary activities, such as operational planning for government offices and agencies, budgeting, legislative preparation, project planning and performance management. The roles and responsibilities of the parties working in economic governance and their division of labour shall be clarified in order to eliminate unnecessary overlap, and the necessary investment shall be made to ensure the continuity of development. In order to boost productivity and enhance the efficiency of information production, the shared processes and information systems of economic governance shall be made universally available, and steps shall be taken to ensure that they work as effectively as possible. The risks inherent in information systems shall be effectively managed by means of testing and contingency planning. Extensive effort will be invested in upgrading the skills and competencies of people working in economic governance and in developing the professional competencies needed according to changing situations. Resource allocation to the different areas and actors in economic governance shall be coordinated according to the division of labour. Key strategic tools include focusing on priority actions, increasing capacity utilisation at the Finnish Government Shared Services Centre, automated and efficient processes, an information system that supports productivity growth and abandoning unnecessary procedures.
Economic planning (mainly the processing of budget accounts) and human resources were excluded from the scope of the project; the latter is covered in the government HR strategy. However interconnections with HR have been taken into account in order to develop productivity-enhancing objectives.
