Case study list

Cardiff and Vale NHS University Health Board

01/01/2008

Summary of the initiative

Cardiff and Vale NHS University Local Health Board (UHB) is a large and complex organisation which operates at a number of locations within South Wales. In order to prepare accurate and complete financial statements the UHB have implemented a detailed annual year end timetable and accompanying guidance which is issued to all key staff involved in the UHB's financial statements closedown process.

The timetable and guidance is issued to ensure that preparation of all areas of the financial statements are completed on time and contain all the required information. The senior management of the UHB buy into this process and realise the importance of preparing accurate and timely financial accounts in order to contribute to the UHB's overall financial reporting and governance agenda.

Whilst the UHB has financial monitoring procedures in place during the financial year, the year-end financial closedown process also assists the UHB in meeting its annual financial targets by ensuring the information submitted to audit is complete and has been reviewed by senior UHB staff prior to the audit commencing.

Benefits obtained

As a result of preparing detailed financial year end closedown procedures, the UHB has achieved a number of benefits from this process including:

• the closedown process provides the Director of Finance with the assurance that the year-end process is being appropriately managed which has resulted in fewer review queries and clarification of issues arising;
• all UHB staff involved in the closedown process are aware of their responsibilities and the associated timescales for delivery of the work;
• the UHB ensures that by preparing a good quality set of financial statements at the first attempt this removes additional burden on financial staff during the audit process, as staff have a better knowledge of the figures making up the financial statements;
• the audit process is much smoother, as the majority of key issues have been considered by the UHB prior to submission of the financial statements for audit; and
• appropriate time is allocated to preparing supporting working papers which also assists the audit process.

The outcome achieved

The UHB has achieved successful outcomes as a result of implementing the detailed year end closedown process. The main highlights are listed below: 

• the process has supported the UHB's achievement of its annual key financial targets; 
• good quality annual financial statements have been prepared; 
• there have only been minor audit amendments required to the financial statements; 
• audit clearance and Audit Committee meetings have been straightforward; 
• the UHB Board obtains a good level of assurance over the figures within the financial statements prior to audit; and 
• the process assists the maintenance of successful working relationships between the UHB and audit.