BUSINESS PLAN: Finance

Transcription

1 BUSINESS PLAN: Finance How does this service contribute to the results identified in the City of London Strategic Plan? A strong economy A vibrant and diverse community A green and growing City A sustainable infrastructure A caring community The Finance service area is responsible for providing sound financial leadership, planning, advice and reporting to Council, the Corporation and the Community. Financial business support is provided to all services across the corporation who in turn support all of the results. The strong financial position of the City provides continued and sustainable funding for existing services and has allowed flexibility to take advantage of opportunities to further support the results. Name the main activities done to provide this service: Name The Activities Done To Provide This Service 1. Planning business support, systems issues; analytical analysis 2. Budgeting & Business Plans operating and capital: development, monitoring 3. Transactional Processing A/P, A/R, account review, debt and cash management, cost accounting 4. Reporting financial statements, service reviews, statutory reporting and compliance, council reports, performance measurement, benchmarking, maintaining account structures. How Much Did We Do? (optional) Is The City Mandated To Provide This Service? Can The Level Of Service Be Changed? No 1

2 What is the current state of this service? Transaction volumes continue to increase, putting pressure on existing resources to cope and adapt to additional workload while maintaining tight financial controls. While the requirements of PSAB 3150 (including Tangible Capital Asset Reporting) have been met, significant process reengineering, system design and reporting enhancements are necessary to streamline the process holistically. Unquestionably, this will require significant resources from across the Finance division and other areas as well. The Accounts Payable EFT payment process now includes an to the payee with the details of the transaction. This reduces paper, postage and the effort required to print, seal and mail the deposit notice. A number of organizations from both the social services sector and construction industry have praised the City's adoption of EFT. The Business Administration area has been established to centralize budget development and monitoring; business plans; service reviews and key financial support to all services. The Financial Planning & Policy section is moving towards the development of a more strategic budget document that will allow for better community engagement and Council decision making. In addition, the Financial Planning area is assisting service areas across the Corporation to develop best budget practices by ensuring financial policies and procedures are followed and consistent with corporate guidelines and directives. Financial Planning & Policy administers and manages: the city reserve funds and reserves to ensure appropriate balances are maintained in order to support the City s needs, debt portfolio to ensure debt is utilized in a strategic manner for key City projects (timing of debt issuances, debt levels as % of operating revenue), as well as manages the cash/investment portfolio on behalf of the Corporation. What is the future direction of this service? Financial Services will continue system development and review of business processes to improve efficiencies in all areas which will increase section capacity and lower overall costs to the Corporation. One major step forward to aid both the transaction volumes and PSAB 3150 was the major JD Edwards system upgrade which was completed in November This project provided the opportunity for key staff to focus on these, and other enhancements. A stable, upgraded system also provides a springboard for further automation and efficiencies in the future. 2

3 What is the future direction of this service? (cont d) Business Administration will continue to work with services to ensure financial practices are being adhered to, provide financial advice and liaison within the Finance Division. Refinement of the budget development and monitoring process will be undertaken. Financial Planning and Policy will continue to develop financial policies and practices to ensure best practices are put in place and communicated to service areas across the Corporation. Best budget practices such as the development and approval of a 4 year Operating Budget at the start of a new Council term will be explored in greater detail to ensure cost and service delivery certainty for core municipal services. Furthermore, the section will continue its efforts in integrating and reporting of key performance measures into the budget development and monitoring report cycles and in providing sound financial advice to all services areas. What do you plan to do? 2014 TCA Business Process Improvements Implement systems and process changes within the Budget, Accounting, Accounts Payable and Purchasing areas to reduce administrative costs and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of compiling the information required for TCA. Actions Resources from across the organization will be required to assist with making improvements and reducing the amount of effort required to gather the information necessary for TCA reporting (PSAB 3150). Outcomes and measures Completion of the TCA portion of the Financial Statements by March 15 in order to enable the year-end audit to be completed on schedule and with reduced effort (less overtime). New System Implementations and Business Process Reviews In the last quarter of 2013 and well into 2014, the City will be initiating a number of major systems projects that will require the expertise of Financial Services staff. Staff will be involved in the planning, development, documentation, process reengineering, testing, procedure creation, interface design and training for these new implementations. 3

4 What do you plan to do? 2014 (cont d) PSAB 3410 Government Transfers As part of the 2013 Financial Statements, Financial Services will implement revised accounting for Government Transfers in accordance with the Public Sector section 3410, which is new for 2013 year ends. Debenture The City of London anticipates to issue debt in 2014 ($40 million estimate) in order to support approved City projects that require debenture financing Major JD Edwards (ERP) System Upgrade Financial Services will be providing staff and leadership on a major JDE Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Upgrade. The JDE system includes Payroll, Budget, Accounts Payable, Work Orders, Fixed Assets, Purchasing, Inventory, Address Book, Accounts Receivable and General Ledger. An ERP provides for data input, storage, retrieval and analysis features to meet corporate business needs. In 2015, significant corporate resources will be required to staff the project team. Backfilling of key positions may be required. Suitable project space will be required for the duration of the project. Policy Review As part of the budget cycle, Financial Planning and Policy will implement reviews of key financial policies such as reserve fund, revenue, debt, assessment growth, surplus in order to ensure the financial framework the municipality operates by is current and consistent with best budget practices. PSAB 3450, 2601 and 3260 As part of the Financial Statements, Financial Services will implement revised accounting for Financial Instruments, Foreign Currency Translation and Liability for Contaminated Sites in accordance with the Public Sector sections 3450, 2601 and 3260 which are new over various years for year ends. 4

5 Key Performance Indicators Description of measure How Much? 1. Accounts Payable Transaction Lines Processed 129, , , , , , , Number of Accounts Payable Cheques Issued 26,796 26,000 25,500 25,000 24,500 24,000 23, Number of Electronic Fund Transfers Processed 5,916 6,200 6,400 6,600 6,800 7,000 7, Number of Accounts Receivable Invoices Issued 15,760 16,000 16,200 16,400 16,600 16,800 17, Number of Active Capital Projects Number of Active Capital Project Financing Reports 7. Number of Active Securities on Development & Subdivision Agreements 8. Number of Contracts Administered Number of Social Assistance Payments 207, , , , , , , Number of Monitoring Reports Issued Number of Lawyer s Letters Processed How Well? 12. Cost of Accounts Payable Function per Transaction Line 13. Internal Management Operating Expense Ratio.01%.01%.01%.01%.01%.01%.01% Investment Portfolio 14. Cost of Accounts Receivable Function per Invoice % of Accounts Receivable Billings over 90 days 32.6% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% Is Anyone Better Off? 16. % of Accounts Payable Invoices Paid within % 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% days 17. Dollars in supplier discounts taken through $147,380 $149,000 $150,000 $151,000 $152,000 $153,000 $154,000 Accounts Payable 18. Moody s Credit Rating Aaa Aaa Aaa Aaa Aaa Aaa Aaa 19. Total Federal/Provincial Subsidy Collected ($000 s) 131, , , , , , ,241 5