The Code has been developed to meet the needs of local, police and fire authorities, registered social landlords, further and higher education institutions, and the National Health Service.

The recommendations made in the Code provide a basis for all these public service organisations to create clear treasury management objectives and to structure and maintain sound treasury management policies and practices.

Recent developments in public services treasury management are numerous. They include, for example, the increasing size and complexity of the public services’ treasury management activities, the demands placed on them, the growth of cross-sectoral partnerships and the sophistication of the financial and money markets.

To enable you to keep pace, CIPFA has produced this pan-public services Code complete with cross-sectoral Guidance Notes. With a cross-sectoral readership making use of the Code and Guidance Notes, it is recognised that there is a wide range of interpretations of what activities comprise treasury management. To eliminate any possible confusion, CIPFA has adopted its own definition of treasury management activities as:

“the management of the organisation’s cash flows, its banking, money market and capital market transactions; the effective control of the risks associated with those activities; and the pursuit of optimum performance consistent with those risks.”

Although generic in definition, in practice there are substantial variations between different parts of the public services in the nature and extent to which they employ treasury management activities and techniques in pursuit of their business and service objectives. For this reason CIPFA have also developed sector-specific Guidance Notes to explain the differences in practice more fully. Sector-specific guidance is available for RSLs and higher and further education institutions, and police authorities and fire authorities.

The guidance for police authorities and fire authorities has been fully revised and updated for 2006, please click here for further information and to order your copy.

Also new for 2006:

Treasury Management in the Public Services Code of Practice: Anti-money Laundering – Cross-sectoral Guidance Notes Update

CIPFA have published a fully revised section on the subject of money laundering, originally published in CIPFA’s Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice and Cross-sectoral Guidance Notes. The revision reflects changes in the law and regulation of money laundering in the UK, most notably as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2003. It also summarises the guidance given by CIPFA in its 2005 publication on the subject, Proceeds of Crime (Anti-money Laundering) – Practical Guidance for Public Service Organisations, applying it specifically to treasury management in the public services.

The update of the guidance notes can be downloaded free here: PDF [size: 560KB] or call CIPFA’s Publications Department on 020 7543 5605 or email publications@cipfa.org to request a printed copy.