Hii I am Jay I have done my graduation and now I want to know the duties and role of the section officer and also want to know which exam was take place for the post of Section 95 Officer ??? Plz reply soon..

The statutory officer for finance has a key role in monitoring spending decisions:

Councils face severe financial pressures because of decreasing income and increasing demand for services.

The chief financial officer (also known as the section 95 officer) is fundamental to ensuring sound financial management and has an important role in establishing and maintaining internal financial controls and in providing professional advice to councillors on all aspects of the council’s finances.

In the current financial climate, this role is increasingly important. Access to decision-makers and influence at a senior management level is critical.

The chief financial officer should be professionally qualified, report directly to the chief executive and be a member of the leadership team (which in practice usually means the corporate management team or equivalent).

11 Across the 32 councils, the make-up of the corporate management team varies, reflecting local structures and circumstances.

The chief financial officer operates at director level in 21 councils and at head of service level in the other 11 councils.

There is a risk that where the chief financial officer is not a full member of the corporate management team, the statutory role is less visible and governance is weakened.

But those chief financial officers we spoke to who are not full members of the corporate management team felt that this did not get in the way of their responsibilities, or diminish their influence and ability to discharge their role.

They attend corporate management team meetings, have access to key documents and meet regularly with the chief executive – in most cases on a weekly basis.

In those cases where the chief financial officer is not a full member of the corporate management team, councillors must satisfy themselves that the chief financial officer has the necessary access and influence at the most senior level in the council, in order to discharge the statutory duties associated with the role.

Where alternative arrangements are in place, councils are expected to explain these and how they deliver the same impact, using an annual governance statement (usually included in the annual report).

To date, those councils where the chief financial officer is not a member of the corporate management team have either not produced an annual governance statement, or have not used it to provide this explanation.

This means that the councils concerned are not making the suitability of their arrangements clear to the public and interested parties.