CIPFA's consultation on the future role of finance directors risks becoming a ‘box-ticking' exercise, unless it stresses higher standards following incidents such as the Icelandic banking crisis, The MJ has been told.

David Prince, former chief executive of the Standards Board for England, said CIPFA's recent draft statement on the role of the finance director ‘fails to catch the political Zeitgeist' by placing too little new emphasis on the role of finance directors in ensuring the pursuit of the public interest.

Writing in The MJ this week, Mr Prince calls on CIPFA to ‘set the tone of debate about [financial] stewardship, and how public money is used', and calls on non-finance professionals to submit feedback to widen the debate about the requirements of the finance function within public bodies.