A DAMNING independent assessment says that Powys County Council (PCC) is not in a position to do “organisational transformation”.

This is because their finances have been assessed as  not strong enough.

On Wednesday, July 3, the Finance Panel will listen in private to a report by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

A source gave The Local Democracy Service a copy of the report.

Between May and October 2018 CIPFA assessed PCC financial management against their five star programmes .

This is based on the global standard in public finance good practice.

Using this management model, PCC, would only receive two stars out of five.

CIPFA say: “The organisation has basic financial management capability.

“Financial management arrangements are in place that allows the organisation to meet the minimum of practice standards and provides functional capability in the short term.

“A minimum level of support in the delivery (of) organisational outcomes but does not support organisational transformational change.

“Financial management style is predominantly stewardship in nature rather than supporting effective decision support.

“Investment programme management is rudimentary and there is a disconnect between operational and financial strategies.”

Head of finance, Jane Thomas, says in the report: “It is important to note that the review measures the whole organisation’s attitude to financial management not just the performance of the of finance team.

“The assessment is based on a mix of evidence obtained through survey, interviews and document review, and provides a snapshot at a point in time.”

The report states that the council’s budgeting had been focussed on one year at a time and Ms Thomas says that way of working is now, “no longer effective.”

Ms Thomas goes on to say that improvements are already being made with a new strategic approach,.

She aims to bring “all elements of the council into one overarching financial strategy”.

This is supposed to deliver the ideas of the ruling Independent/Conservative group, known as Vision 2025.

Transformation has been the buzz word at Llandrindod Wells for a long time.

Councillors believe that transforming services will save money and improve them.

There is even a corporate director for transformation, tasked with overseeing the changes (or cuts) and pushing more and more services online.

The next steps according to Ms Thomas are: “A detailed action plan will now be developed to address all the findings of the assessment.

“The action plan will be developed, delivered and monitored by the senior leadership team and financial panel and audit committee receiving regular updates throughout the improvement process.”