About us
The Government Finance Function enables the delivery of high quality public services and ensures that public money is spent efficiently and effectively.
The Functional Agenda
The Government Finance Function (GFF), as one of 12 functions operating across the Civil Service, is at the forefront of the functional agenda. Strengthening linkages with other functions is vital for effective cross-government collaboration, and offers clear opportunities to share knowledge, leverage resource and develop common solutions.
What we do
The Government Finance Function Strategy, sets out our vision and ambitions in a single cohesive document. It articulates the leadership roles, deliverables, and ways of working that will ensure we can meet our ambitions; enabling us, wherever we work across government, to deliver a quality service for our departments and organisations.
We inform, shape and strengthen decision-making by:
- supporting the vision of ‘A Modern Civil Service’ by investing in our people to build and strengthen our capability, while creating a great place to work
- cultivating an inclusive learning culture, which encourages innovation and collaboration
- setting clear delivery expectations through consistent standards and policies with a focus on high quality public services that deliver value for money
- delivering customer-focused expert advice and specialist services by bringing a strategic and cross-cutting perspective, supported by robust data and efficient processes and systems
Our People
We are a diverse community of over 10,000 people spread out across the United Kingdom; with three-quarters based in regions outside of London. We are embedded in every government department and their organisations, building trust by understanding, supporting and where appropriate challenging the business.
The function is broader than individual professions, bringing together a range of disciplines and expertise, from strategic business partners, to accountants, to planning and performance leads, to risk managers, internal auditors and public spending teams.
Our people bring a wealth of varied experience, backgrounds and knowledge. We invest in building and strengthening capability to deliver excellent services, drive high performance and encourage creative and pragmatic solutions that support the business. The Government Finance Academy provides a cohesive learning and development offer across the Civil Service.
Standards
Standards apply to civil servants working in the Government Finance Function and provide a base level that they must comply with. Some of these standards, such as Managing Public Money and the Green Book, Magenta Book, Aqua Book and Better Business Cases guidance, apply to all civil servants and anyone employed to work in, or with, central government, including contractors.