Always a tough job, the role of finance director has grown even more challenging with the big spending cuts. Michael Burton talks to one finance chief about how she is tackling the impact of the Spending Review.

There can be few local authority finance directors who did not start this year with a sense of dread. The grant settlement last month confirmed what will be the toughest budget round for decades, and in the case of many councils, the front-loaded cuts mean income reductions of one-quarter in two years.