Kommuninvest and the Stockholm School of Economics developed a leading edge training programme
In the spring of 2019, a course developed by Kommuninvest and Stockholm School of Economics was given for the first time, focusing on financial analysis of local government operations. There were 22 participants from five different municipalities: Karlstad, Kristianstad, Luleå, Skellefteå and Skövde.
The four-day course, proceeded from the core concepts, principal relationships and the analytical framework within the subject areas of accounting and financial analysis. Against this background, issues were addressed involving local government investment analyses, efficiency requirements, strategic choices in financing investment needs and the type of long-term financial sustainability needed by local government authorities.
What the five municipalities participating in the course that first time shared was that they face major investment needs, involving several different strategic choices. For this reason, part of the course addressed investment control and the financing options available. Central to this was also a discussion of the different models for coordinating investment needs within a municipal group.
By bringing together municipalities with similar conditions and challenges, the stage was set for an instructive dialogue. A key component of the course was that each municipality brought along a practical investment case from its own operations. The teachers analysed the decision-supporting data and strategic considerations, and the participants exchanged experiences.
“We hope that this training initiative will help people with different qualifications and assignments, and who work with issues of local government finance, to collaborate more effectively in the future. This applies both to collaborations between elected representatives and officials, as well as between those in power and those in opposition. The hope is that the municipalities will gain a sustained effect from this investment in education, benefiting as much as possible from the financial resources that have been made available,” says Johan Nordlund, who heads the programme at the Stockholm School of Economics.
This first course served as a trial run. Kommuninvest now wants to continue developing the concept, to be able to offer the course to additional municipalities in the future.