Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent)
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27. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if a standard form of financial management structures is in place in each Government Department. [42413/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Each Government Department has responsibility for its financial management structures which must comply with standard public financial procedures, including the Public Spending Code.The main features of formal management structures include business planning, effective systems of budgetary control, monitoring of performance, appraisal of projects and programmes, effective cash management and internal audit.

All Departments are funded through the annual Estimates process and in each Department, the Secretary General, as Accounting Officer, prepares an annual account, the Appropriation Account, which is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. In each case, the accounts are accompanied by a Statement of Internal Financial Control. This confirms that appropriate mechanisms to review and evaluate the Department’s financial management and control systems are in place on an on-going basis. These accounts and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General are subsequently submitted to the Committee of Public Accounts for examination.