I recently had the pleasure of attending the first ‘retreat' of the Association of Local Authority Treasurers. It was aimed at exploring ways of responding innovatively to the public sector's financial management challenges. Supported by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountacy and knowledge partners iMPOWER, KPMG and Moody's, we covered a lot of ground in 24 hours.

Colleagues shared solutions to some of the technical issues we all grapple with, and I am sure that as a result, some new approaches are being developed.