Part 10 - Financial Procedure Rules - 2

2.1

Financial regulations provide the framework for managing the authority's financial affairs. They apply to every member and officer of the authority and anyone acting on its behalf.

2.2

The regulations identify the financial responsibilities of council, executive and overview and scrutiny members, the head of paid service, the monitoring officer, the chief finance officer, policy directors and service unit heads. Executive members and officers should maintain a written record where decision making has been delegated to members of their staff, including seconded staff. Where decisions have been delegated or devolved to other responsible officers, references to the officer in the regulations should be read as referring to them.

2.3

All members and staff have a general responsibility for taking reasonable action to provide for the security of the assets under their control, and for ensuring that the use of these resources is legal, properly authorised and provides value for money and achieves best value.

2.4

The chief finance officer is responsible for maintaining a continuous review of the financial regulations and submitting any additions or changes necessary to the council for approval. The chief finance officer is also responsible for reporting, where appropriate, breaches of the financial regulations to the council and/or to the executive members.

2.5

The authority's detailed financial procedures setting out how the regulations will be implemented are contained in the appendices to the financial regulations.

2.6

Officers are responsible for ensuring that all staff in their departments/units are aware of the existence and content of the authority's financial regulations and other internal regulatory documents and that they comply with them. He/she must also ensure that an adequate number of copies are available for reference within his/her department/unit.

2.7

The chief finance officer is responsible for issuing advice and guidance to underpin the financial regulations which members, officers and others acting on behalf of the authority are required to follow.