What is good financial management

From the finance department perspective, “good financial management” is having robust processes that ensure all sales and purchasing transactions are accurately captured, processed and paid in a timely manner, the management accounts and statutory returns meet the legal requirements and auditor’s approval, payroll is always run on time and the resulting cashflow information is diligently managed.

From a budget holder’s perspective (the people who spend the money), good financial management is much more about understanding where they are today against budgets and based on their decisions, where they are going to be in the foreseeable future and that determines what they can achieve within the limitations of their available money and resources.