Government seeks cost savings by centralising financial administration functions under Palkeet

The Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy has decided in favour of centralising the Government’s financial administration functions under the Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR (Palkeet). With the decision, the central government’s operational financial administration tasks and the information systems that support them will be transferred to Palkeet next year.

The State Treasury is responsible for the operational financial administration tasks of the central government, such as consolidated accounting, proposals for financial statements, monthly financial reporting, centralised monitoring of budget authorities and the breakdown of budgetary accounts. After an initial transition phase, Palkeet will be able to carry out these tasks approximately 25 per cent more efficiently than the current model.

The processing of expenses paid for with public officials’ travel expenses cards will also be transferred to Palkeet at the start of next year. The centralisation of processing will lead to an annual savings of EUR 210,000 from next year onwards.  

The ministerial committee also agreed that central government agencies, the Senate Group and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland would be given similar rights to the security clearance register as the ministries. This would allow the organisations to check whether a consenting person has a valid security clearance.

The legislative amendments needed for the changes will be prepared by the Ministry of Finance.

Working group looking into transferring other tasks to Palkeet

Other functions could also be centralised under Palkeet over the longer term, such as security clearance applications for agencies’ personnel, registry tasks, financial services and agencies’ financial and HR management systems. Further assessment is needed to determine if and how these tasks could be centralised.

According to a working group of representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Palkeet, the central government could achieve the following annual savings if centralisation is deemed feasible:

• financial services and technical implementation of security clearances: EUR 12.3 million from 2030 onwards
• registry tasks and agencies’ financial and HR management systems: EUR 2.8 million by 2030 or 2031  

If the above-mentioned savings are not possible, the remaining savings will be sought through a general cut in government agencies’ operating expenditure.

Centralisation to help achieve additional savings decided on in mid-term policy review

The measures now endorsed by the ministerial committee are part of the work to achieve an additional annual savings of EUR 130 million as outlined by the ministerial committee in June 2025. To implement the savings, the Ministry of Finance worked together with Palkeet and the State Treasury to explore what kinds of savings could be achieved by centralising different central government functions.

The Ministry of Finance also looked into the possibility of centralising the tasks of internal auditors but ultimately determined that internal auditing should be developed within the current organisational model.

Inquiries:  Juha Madetoja, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Head of Unit, tel. +358 2955 30572, juha.madetoja(at)gov.fi