St Helena : St Helena The Directors – Part VII Tony Kilner, Director of Finance
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Public Relations Information Office) 01.07.2011 (Article Archived on 15.07.2011)
The Finance Directorate raises Income Tax and Customs revenue, which help fund public services. It processes transactions for all the other directorates, invests government’s money, manages the budget and produces the information on costs and performance of different parts of government that is a key part of the way that government is accountable to Councillors.
The Directors – Part VII Tony Kilner, Director of Finance
The Finance Directorate raises Income Tax and Customs revenue, which help fund public services. It processes transactions for all the other directorates, invests government’s money, manages the budget and produces the information on costs and performance of different parts of government that is a key part of the way that government is accountable to Councillors.
The Finance Directorate also includes the IT section, the Post Office and the Customer Service Centre. The IT service supports improvements in public services through applying technology. In particular the growth of distance learning and the introduction of telemedicine are based on IT and are leading to improvements in education and health care.
The Post Office continues to deal with the island’s mail and has now also taken on much of the work previously done by messengers in different directorates. This has also enabled an increase in the frequency of delivery to sub-post offices.
The Customer Service Centre is a brand new section that is taking on lots of functions from across government and managing them in one place to make it more convenient for the public. The public can now collect pensions and benefits, pay bills and buy a range of licenses all from the Customer Service Centre next to the Post Office.
On being responsible for all of this, Tony said:
“The way that the Finance Directorate does all these functions has been changing a lot recently. We have changed the way we do accounts to “accruals accounting” which businesses have done for centuries and that governments have started doing over the last twenty years. It means we don’t just record when cash is spent but also keep track of government’s assets and liabilities so we can tell what different government activities really cost us.
“At the same time we have made many other improvements to our accounting systems, cutting down on the amount of paperwork required. We have also changed the way we budget to ‘output budgeting’ which again gives a better way of measuring and controlling what public services really cost. I was hired mainly to lead and see through these big changes. There have also been big changes in the tax and customs systems that came into effect on the 1 April 2011 that we have had to implement.”
The Finance Directorate has sixty three staff spread over eight sections. The coming year will be mostly about making sure new systems are running smoothly than starting new initiatives.
Of the Finance Directorate, Tony said:
“We are very much a learning organisation, with staff studying and learning new skills. Part of this is through studying for formal qualifications in accounting and IT, but it is also about an attitude that rises to the challenge of learning new ways of doing things at work; often the challenge of teaching new ways of doing things too. This is what I enjoy about working in the Finance Directorate – seeing so many changes being implemented that improve the way we serve Councillors, other Directorates and the public – but also seeing the way staff has grown in their confidence and skills.”
Like most Directors, Tony also has roles to do outside his Directorate. Tony is the Government Director on the Board of Solomon’s, a member of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority that overseas financial services such as the Bank and Solomon’s Insurance, he also sits on various MoU working groups.
Tony has been the Director of Finance for just over a year and was previously Chief Auditor. Before coming to St Helena, Tony worked for International Development Charities in Internal Audit and Financial Management roles. His work took him around the world from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. His two children were both born on St Helena and take up most of his time outside of work.
Public Relations/Information Office
The Secretariat
23 June 2011
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