The role of our Finance Department is to:

• Undertake strategic financial planning
• Ensure proper governance arrangements are in place for financial matters, including the reporting of financial information to the Police Authority
• Deliver financial services and provide financial support to the Police Authority and all elements of the Constabulary

With the exception of some ordering of goods and services, all financial activities for the Constabulary are dealt with by the Finance Department, which is based at police headquarters in Wymondham.

The department provides a professional service which gives advice and information in order to ease the burden of financial management for police officers and police staff so they can spend more time concentrating on front line policing.

The main areas covered within the department include:

Financial Planning

• Financial planning at a corporate level over a three to four year period to indicate the cashflow likely to be available to the Police Authority in the future and the likely spending pressures.

Accountancy Services

• Preparation of departmental and corporate budgets
• Monitoring of income and expenditure during the year
• Preparation and monitoring of the capital programme
• Producing the published Annual Statement of Accounts
• Providing advice to those responsible for managing budgets
• Arranging insurance cover

Procurement

• Undertaking tenders on behalf of the Police Authority where the value of a contract exceeds £30,000 (as at September 2009 and subject to periodic review)
• Developing and placing contracts for goods, services and works
• Management of certain strategic contracts
• Management of procurement cards

Financial Service Development

• Maintaining our financial systems
• Preparation and management of the Efficiency Plan
• Value for money reviews and benchmarking of services
• Improving the efficiency of financial processes

Payroll and Exchequer

• Processing and payment of salaries to employees
• Processing of orders for goods and services and payment of invoices
• Income collection and debt recovery
• Processing of overtime and expense claims

Income Generation

• Identifying and pursuing opportunities for bringing in additional income
• Supporting departments to develop their income generation opportunities