The biggest bugbear for accountants in the production of annual accounts invariably seems to be completing the dreaded cashflow statement.

Its completion can range from the annoying chore attempted at the last minute – although there are good reasons for this – to a nightmare of trying to hide a balancing figure somewhere so the statement reconciles, but that the auditor will not spot it.

However, cashflow woe, keeping fingers crossed and hiding from the auditor could be a thing of the past, thanks to a solution offered by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Northern Ireland) to a group of frustrated local government practitioners.

As part of a support service offered by the body to local government finance officers, an automated cashflow statement template (CFST) has been developed, together with detailed guidance notes on completion.

It is designed to work automatically by manual input of data to achieve an FRS (Financial Reporting Standard) and SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) compliant cashflow statement and associated notes.

The CFST consists of excel worksheets that are completed by the user and which will provide the year-end cashflow figures. However, the model just provides an automated process for many of the entries required.

It has been tested with figures from the financial statements of three district councils in Northern Ireland. CIPFA provided two half-day training sessions.

The success of the pilot in Northern Ireland in has encouraged work to start on producing a template that will satisfy the needs of local authorities in the rest of the UK.

Accounting practitioners report that with CFST a process which used to take a number of days can now be completed in a day – and it actually balances!

Stephen Mungavin is CIPFA's Northern Ireland principal consultant