HM Treasury: Public Services Sector, Expenditure Support Group, Accountancy, Finance...

This series comprises registered files of the Accountancy, Finance and Audit Division (IFM prefix) of HM Treasury. Public records in this series are the products of work of the team set up to co-ordinate the initiative on government department efficiency in the early 1980s.

The record prefix 'IFM' denotes the file registry theme 'Initiative on Financial Management'.

The records are arranged chronologically and in file prefix order.

From 2014 Treasury

The Accountancy, Finance and Audit Division was created in 1981 and comprised the general expenditure data unit. The Division also developed initiatives to introduce financial management, management accountancy and internal audit within government departments.

The Financial Management Initiative (FMI):

Since the Plowden Report (published June 1961) the Treasury has continuously been not only concerned with management efficiency but also active in promoting new approaches to management that would result in greater efficiency throughout the public service. The 'Financial Management Initiative' (FMI) was an approach to management endorsed by the Treasury that emerged from an earlier efficiency scrutiny set up by the Cabinet Office Prime Minister's Efficiency Unit; which were known as Rayner Scrutinies after Sir Derek Rayner who was the head of this unit. The idea of scrutinies was that, although each study was small in scale, the effect of scrutinies would, over time, permeate the whole Civil Service. The FMI was therefore an approach to management built upon the experience of MINIS (Management Information System for Ministers) which in turn had resulted from an earlier scrutiny.

FMI was designed to promote in each department an organisation and system in which managers at all levels have: a) a clear view of their objectives and means to assess and wherever possible , measure outputs or performance in relation to those objectives; b) well defined responsibility for making the best use of their resources, including a critical scrutiny of output and value for money;c) the information (particularly about costs), the training and the access to expert advice that they need to exercise their responsibility effectively.

The FMI was launched as part of the government's response to a report from the Parliamentary Treasury and Civil Service Committee. It had the strong personal backing of the Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher). Thirty one of the largest departments were required to produce by the end of 1983, a detailed appraisal of their current arrangements in the light of the stated FMI principles and a plan for introducing the changes and systems necessary. The initiative was promoted and co-ordinated by the Treasury and the Cabinet Office Management and Personnel Office (MPO) through a small unit set up for the purpose and consisting of four civil servants and four consultants (and it is the records in this series which are the products of this team's work).