Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 June 2023
410. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to provide a definition of business-as-usual use in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016 in relation to consultancy services that do not need to be published in the financial statements of State agencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27642/23]
View answerAs outlined in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016, Business and Financial Reporting Requirements “State bodies should disclose details of expenditure on external consultancy/adviser fees in their annual report and/or financial statements for each accounting year for each entity”.
The Code states that for the purpose of disclosure in financial statements/annual report ‘consultancy fees’ means fees paid to external parties providing advisory services of any nature. The 2017 Guide to the Implications for the Annual Financial Statements and the Annual Report developed by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in consultation with my Department defines consultancy as "where a person, organization or group thereof is engaged to provide intellectual or knowledge-based services (e.g. expert analysis and advice) through delivering reports, studies, assessments, recommendations, proposals, etc. that contribute to decision- or policy-making in a contracting authority". The engagement should be for a limited time period to carry out a specific finite task or set of tasks that involve expert skills or capabilities that would not normally be expected to reside within the contracting authority.
The Guide also provides further clarity on the requirement to disclose consultancy costs and it is suggested that fees paid to external service providers should be categorised as follows:
|
Category |
Examples of types of expenditure included |
|
Legal |
general legal advice (for example, in respect of the impact of GDPR on the body) |
|
Financial |
excludes the cost of the external audit, as this is disclosed in the notes to the financial statements, but would, for example, include professional advice received in respect of changes to a financial reporting framework |
|
PR/ marketing |
advertising and branding |
|
HR and pensions |
advice in relation to restructuring a pension scheme |
|
Business improvement |
advice received in respect of change management |
|
Other |
a ‘catch all’ for other categories of consultancy |
As set out on page 27 of the Guide to the Implications for the Annual Financial Statements and the Annual Report, consultancy costs include the cost of external advice to management and excludes outsourced 'business as usual' functions which do not fit within the definition of consultancy as outlined above.
