July 2024 - The State of CIPFA - The Questions CIPFA must still answer at its Forthcoming AGM and beyond to All its members

Dear Colleagues

As we move towards the July General election and the changing of the guard at CIPFA there are still unanswered questions about the governance and financial position of our Institute.

Hopefully still our Institute!

I have asked CIPFA to respond at its Forthcoming AGM and to all my questions and in writing to all CIPFA members. I will inform you of any responses I receive.

Written responses will be better as the AGM is a stage managed affair without much direct member input.

In the meantime I will continue to push CIPFA for an independent inquiry into its future.

Please 🙏 take on board the attached questions in my letter and let's hope we get a reply!

We can hope for better times ahead.

...........................................................................

Dear CIPFA Council Secretary

Please provide written answers to each of the following questions to all CIPFA members.

A. CIPFA FINANCIAL POSITION 2023

The following questions relate largely to the CIPFA financial position before pension adjustments.

A1. What are the principal reasons for CIPFA Group Income falling from£28.843m in 2022 to £28. 181m in 2023 a reduction of £302k or 1%?

A2. Why have CIPFA Group expenses increased from £27.341m in 2022 to £28.111m in 2023 an increase of £770k or 2.8%?

A3. Why has CIPFA Group contribution drastically fallen from £1. 142m in 2022 to just £70k in 2023 and this reduction of circa 94% reflects the fact that CIPFA is barely breaking even?

A4. How do these disappointing financial results compare to the relevant CIPFA business plan figures for 2022 and 2023?

A5. How much did the failed CIPFA Connect Scheme cost CIPFA, who was responsible for its failure and was this failure reported to the Charity Commission as a "Major Incident"?

A6 Please provide details of any other CIPFA scheme failures in 2023 and any costs CIPFA has incurred as a result of those failures?

A7 Can CIPFA provide its business plan figures for its Group income, expenditure and contribution for the financial years 2024,2025 and 2026?

A8. In 2023 the total CIPFA cash flow was negative to the tune of £2.494m after asset purchases, interest payments and pension and lease liability payments.

This resulted in its Bank balance falling from £6.356m in 2022 to £3.862m in 2023.

Given that CIPFA repaid £3.915m in pension and lease liabilities alone in 2023 what will the predicted cash flow and bank balance positions for CIPFA be in 2024,2025 and 2026?

This is in the light of CIPFA having future long term liabilities of some £8.234m.

A9. Given these significant future cash demands on liability repayments how will CIPFA phase its future payments to mitigate pressures on its cash position?

A10. Given that CIPFA group revenue has fallen and costs have increased how will CIPFA ensure it generates enough cash to sustain its inancial stability for future years?

B. CIPFA CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES

The current interest CIPFA has shown in Corporate Governance is welcome but can it answer the following questions regarding to its own Corporate Governance Processes?

B1. Why does the Governance section of the 2023 CIPFA annual report omit the non CIPFA external roles of the departed Chief Executive?

B2. Can CIPFA reveal to its members all the non CIPFA external roles of the departing CIPFA CEO and other key CIPFA officers including the recently deparated Chief Operating Officer?

B3.Can CIPFA confirm that one of these external roles mentioned above included Lilliput Advisory Services, the departing CIPFA Chief Executive's own management consultancy firm?

B4.Why was the Departing Chief Executive allowed to run his own management consultancy firm whilst still being the Chief Executive of CIPFA?

B5 Does CIPFA regard it as moral, ethical and acceptable that the departing Chief Executive should be allowed to run his own management consultancy whilst still being the CIPFA CEO given the potential conflicts of interest which may ensue?

B6.Has the departing Chief Executive been allowed to run his own businesses whilst being employed by CIPFA?

B7.How much remuneration did the departing Chief obtain from this external non CIPFA roles?

B8.How much time did the departing Chief Executive spend on CIPFA roles in relation to time spent on external non CIPFA roles?

B9.Was time spent on external non CIPFA roles his own time, CIPFA time or a combination of all these elements?

B10. Did CIPFA Council approve this multitude of external non CIPFA roles for the departing Chief Executive and any similar roles?

B11. Did the CIPFA President likewise approve the non CIPFA external roles mentioned in B10?

I am sure that given CIPFA's expressed concerns about robust Corporate Governance in the public sector that you will address my governance questions seriously?

I do hope that you will let all CIPFA members know in writing the responses to all my questions.

These issues must be resolved before the new Chief Executive fully takes on this new role.

The CIPFA AGM alone will not do justice in terms of the breadth and depth of responses required to fully answer the questions I have posed.

All CIPFA members expect full, complete, accurate and timely responses to the questions I have raised. They are matters of deep concern to all CIPFA members.

I look forward to your prompt response and I have attempted to give you enough time, before the CIPFA AGM, for you to respond properly andd address my concerns.

Regards

Roman Haluszczak