Financial Introduction to Local Council Administration (FILCA)

HomeFinancial Introduction to Local Council Administration (FILCA)

Essential finance

The Financial Introduction to Local Council Administration (FILCA) is a Level 2, online sector specific learning tool to support all new Responsible Financial Officers (RFO’s) in England and Wales (or officers who have a financial element to their job role). The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to council finance.

 

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Course overview

The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to the work of an RFO. The course is in five modules based on the annual round of financial activities.

Duration

You will have access to the online course for twelve months. Read more below.

Commitment

Allow up to 2 hours per module, 5 modules in total

CPD Points

Claim 8 CPD points for completing this course

Delivery/Format

Online, self-paced

Price

£120 + VAT for members and non-members
Are you a clerk in Wales? You could be eligible for a bursary towards 50% of the cost, click here to find out more. Please also ensure you register for ILCA (Wales) which contains the relevant legislation and content for officers in Wales.

When registering...

Important: Please ensure that, when you register for ILCA online, you login and register for yourself and not on behalf of someone else. If you have a colleague who wishes to register for ILCA please ask them to setup a user account here.

Click here to register

(for officers in England)
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Click here to register

(for officers in Wales)
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What will I learn?

1. Roles & Responsibilities

  • Occupational standards
  • The role
  • The legal framework
  • Values
  • Calendar
  • Resources
  • Assessment

 

3. Systems & Procedures

  • Proper practices
  • The council’s financial regulations
  • The cash book
  • Spending
  • Income
  • Banking
  • Investments
  • Payroll
  • Resources
  • Assessment

 

5. External Audit and the Year End

  • External audit
  • Exempt councils (not applicable to FILCA Wales)
  • Public rights
  • The AGAR (FILCA England) / The Annual Return (FILCA Wales)
  • The Statement of Accounts
  • Annual accounts
  • Resources
  • Assessment

 

2. Budget and Precept

  • The budget
  • The precept
  • Constructing the budget
  • Making budget decisions
  • Monitoring the budget
  • Resources
  • Assessment

 

4. Internal Control and VAT

  • The council’s duty
  • Implementing the duty
  • Separation of responsibilities
  • The management of risk
  • Insurance
  • The internal audit
  • Reviewing the systems
  • VAT
  • Reclaiming VAT
  • Resources
  • Assessment

 

Assessments

After completing the e-learning content for each module, your knowledge and understanding of each module will be assessed through a module assessment.

You must score 80% or above in assessment to pass the module.

‘An excellent course for people starting out in these roles with no knowledge and also for intermediate people like myself who ‘think’ they know and need that crucial detail and additional guidance that is paramount to moving on in my development.’ Adam Lowe, Councillor, Oakham Town Council

‘Although I have worked at Blandford Forum Town Council for over 17 years, I have been a clerk without the role of RFO and had limited involvement in all of the financial workings of the council. I wanted to test/improve my knowledge on it and was keen to work through the modules. I found it really interesting and – although I was pleased at the amount of knowledge I had – I also learnt a lot and it wasn’t time consuming. I liked the layout of the course and the separation of the modules and would recommend it to any officers at town and parish councils.’ Linda Scott-Giles PSLCC, Town Clerk, Blandford Forum Town Council