Finance Skills For All
“Finance Skills for All is for everyone, no matter what your role is… Better financial awareness will help us make better decisions and therefore has benefits for us, the organisation and the taxpayer.”
Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the Civil Service, and Richard Douglas, Head of the Government Finance Profession
What is Finance Skills for All and who is it for?
Finance Skills for All is an e-learning package for all staff – whatever their job. It has been designed to help civil servants increase their understanding of finance and how it relates to their work. The course has been updated and improved in consultation with users across government.
Whether you work in policy, corporate services or in an operational delivery role, Finance Skills for All is for you. It can help you think about:
- how to deliver with less
- how resources should be used to help deliver priorities
- the financial implications of decisions
The course is made up of 11 modules that you can pick and choose from, according to your needs. Interactive, straightforward and easy to use, the course is hosted on the Civil Service Learning website so you can access it at a time to suit you on any internet-enabled PC, smartphone or tablet. You don’t have to complete the course all at once - you can dip in and out to fit around your work.
Why is it important?
All civil servants have a responsibility to make the very best use of taxpayers’ money. Ensuring everyone has finance skills is a key priority in the Civil Service Reform Plan.
Sound financial thinking is also everyone’s responsibility. We all make decisions on how resources – time as well as money - are spent or allocated, so even if you don’t manage a budget, you still need to ‘think financially’.
How will Finance Skills for All help me?
This e-learning package is an easy way to get the finance skills you need now and for the future. It can help you develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the new Civil Service Competency Framework, particularly 'Delivering Value for Money'. Think about this when setting your learning and development objectives.
What does the e-learning cover?
The course consists of 11 modules covering a range of topics. We recommend they are taken in the following order:
- Financial Planning and Control 1 & 2
- Resource Based Management 1 & 2
- Budget Management
- Strategic Business Planning
- Investment Appraisal
- Interpretation of Accounts
- Performance Indicators
- Market Economics
- Corporate Finance
How long will it take to complete?
Each module takes about an hour to complete. You can do the learning at a pace to suit you and your workload. The package is designed so that you can do a little at a time, returning to it whenever you want. Once you have completed a module, it will remain in your learning record to use as a refresher.
How can I test my learning?
There is a short assessment of about 10 questions at the end of each module to help you test your learning. To make sure your skills and knowledge stay up-to-date, we recommend that you revisit the assessments once a year.
What’s new about this version?
The updated package now has 11 modules and a short assessment after each module to help users test their progress. There are also some content changes. And it is now possible to access the modules through any internet-enabled device.
If you’ve taken Finance Skills for All before, we recommend that you complete the assessment sections of each module to check that your knowledge is up-to-date.
What about after the course?
- Talk to your manager about what you have learned and how you can apply it in your job
- Revisit the assessment sections once a year to check your skills are up-to-date
- Consider completing additional financial and commercial awareness learning opportunities, such as:
Commercial Awareness (5 modules, e-learning)
- Analysis and the Use of Evidence (3 modules, e-learning)
- SCS Financial Leadership – decision-making and achieving better value for money (2 day course – face-to-face)
- Budget Management (1 day course – face-to-face)
Visit Civil Service Learning for more information.
Where can I get more information about Finance Skills for All?
Log in to Civil Service Learning at https://civilservicelearning.civilservice.gov.uk/ and search for ‘Finance Skills for All overview’.
April 2013