Managing in a downturn

The good news is that COVID-19 has faded into the background. The bad news is that the last three years may have tipped us into a recession, and at a time when government debt is at record levels. This will create significant financial management issues for many public sector agencies over the next 2-3 years.

We can expect the public sector to be asked to make savings, be more efficient and to redirect resources to new or higher priority areas. The Budget bid process in coming years is likely to be very constrained and restricted to critical priorities of the current government.  For most agencies, the annual Budget process is therefore likely to be an internal process about how to fund new initiatives and cost pressures from within existing baselines.

This means that all public sector agencies will need to be clear about their priorities, be able to identify cost saving opportunities, and demonstrate that they are using their funding effectively.  

How can we help?

Within our consulting team we have extensive experience managing complex financial issues and have helped lead and navigate many agencies through organisational change and problematic times.

We have significant experience developing Financial Strategies and Plans. If you don’t have a Financial Plan, we can help you to develop one from scratch, or we can help you to update your existing Financial Plan.

We can help you to manage your immediate cost pressures and find ways to fund new initiatives other than budget bids. We have guides which will help you to manage your costs, prioritise your expenditure and to manage your existing appropriations.

We can help you to review and improve your prioritisation framework which will help you to make decisions on which initiatives or activities to support, scale back or recycle funding. We also have significant experience in developing funding options or we can help you to review your existing funding options.

If you would like to discuss your agency’s financial issues and how to manage them please contact us.