FinPro Mini-Conference 2020

October 29, 2020

Our 2020 Mini-conference was held on 21 and 22 October 2020.  A range of topics and speakers were included in the program.

A summary of the event, including copies of presentations and recordings of all sessions is included below.

Long Term Financial Plans.

One of the key changes for Finance professionals in Local Government coming out of the new Local Government Act 2020 is a legislated 10-year Financial Plan.

The Financial Plan (s 91) is developed and adopted by Council to provide a long-term view of the resources that are expected to be available to Council and the proposed/predicted application/use of those resources over a 10-year period. The Financial Plan should cover all aspects of the Council’s role including services/operations and capital investment/assets. It should also describe the proposed sources of funds it proposes to have access to and include all the high-level assumptions under-pinning the Plan.

Council’s may already have a model or product which helps with long term planning… but what else is out there?   These sessions will give four providers a half-hour each to present their current solutions.

Session 1:   LTFP – CT Management and TechnologyOne 21.10.20

LISTEN TO THE RECORDING

COPIES OF PRESENTATIONS:

Session 2:  LTFP – LG Solutions and MAGIQ – 21.10.20

LISTEN TO THE RECORDING

COPIES OF PRESENTATIONS:

 

VAGO – Emerging risks and audits – 22.10.20

LISTEN TO THE RECORDING

Should we have seen it coming?  This is a question that we often ask ourselves when something unexpected happens.  It forces us to reassess our current environment and increases our focus on the probability of future events.  It makes us reconsider our approach to risk and risk management.  Our Councils will now be moving from a response to a recovery phase, managing the risks and leveraging the opportunities for change resulting from this pandemic.  Robust governance frameworks will be critical as we look to deliver our services in more agile and innovative ways – always mindful of future uncertainty.

During this session the Auditor General – Andrew Greaves will present his views and insights into the topic of Emerging Risks and Audit focus.

Andrew will then hand over to Sanchu Chummar who will speak about this year’s audit process, as it reaches its completion.

COPIES OF PRESENTATIONS:

 

Rebuilding our Communities – 22.10.20

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The current health and economic crisis have been traumatic for our communities.  Local Councils have responded quickly with a range of initiatives to support business, jobs and communities.  As we emerge from the immediate emergency responses, our attention needs to shift quickly to building resilient communities in a post COVID-19 environment.

Today we will hear from two speakers who will step us through their thinking and approach in leading the recovery and rebuild.  This is an important conversation for us as a finance community as we also rethink our approach to budgetary settings required to enable these community visions.

Presenters:        Ludo Campbell-Reid, Director of City Design & Livability, Wyndham City Council

John McLinden, CEO Swan Hill Rural City Council

Challenges facing the councils in 2020 and beyond:  CEO Panel – 22.10.20

LISTEN TO THE RECORDING

Danny Wain interviewed 2 highly regarded CEOs about their recent experiences in the year we all want to forget and how this shaped not only the coming year, but also further into the future.

Tammi was part of the CEO panel at the 2019 Conference and Danny will review some of the questions he asked at the time about shaping the future of Yarra Ranges.  How much of what she planned was able to be delivered? How were plans modified along the way to still achieve key outcomes?

Craig’s experience spans both large and small councils and will share his learnings of how to deal with situations that “just arise” like Covid and natural disasters. With some councils in the state experiencing both in the same financial year, is the sector becoming more able to adapt readily to changing circumstances?

Presenters:         Tammi Rose, CEO Yarra Ranges Shire Council

Craig Neimann, CEO City of Greater Bendigo

Facilitator:           Danny Wain, CFO Monash City Council, FinPro Exec