FINANCE GUIDANCE NOTE 2009-04
SPFM AMENDMENTS
The purpose of this note is to announce recent substantive amendments to the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). Amendments necessitated by the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards from 1 April 2009 are as follows:
- the section on Disposal of Tangible Fixed Assets has been re-titled Disposal of Property, Plant and Equipment. Terminology has been updated and guidance provided on the balance sheet date treatment of any non-current assets classified as being held for sale.
- the section on Contingent Liabilities has been revised to address the budgetary and accounting impact of any guarantee or letter of comfort that could be deemed to constitute a "financial guarantee".
- the section on Public Private Partnerships has been revised to reflect changes in the basis of accounting for PPP arrangements from a risk allocation model to a control based model. The section now also reflects the Scottish Government's commitment to using the non-profit distributing public private partnership model.
In addition the section on Local Government Finance has been updated to reflect revised processes and procedures following the signing of the Concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA.
Other sections of the SPFM that have been reviewed and updated recently, without substantive amendment, are as follows:
Expenditure Without Statutory Authority
Expenditure Without Parliamentary Authority
New Services
Annual Budgeting Process
Spending Reviews
Payments and Transfers to UK Departments
Scottish Government Finance Directorate
June 2009