What the UK Audit Commission taught me about Marriage
www.audit-commission.gov.uk
On the different types of Marriages :
“Some partnerships are strategic; others are operational in focus; some partnerships attract dedicated funding, others do not. Some are limited companies, others are charitable trusts and still more are unincorporated associations…. The governance arrangements for different forms of partnership working are determined by their legal form”
On spending His money:
“even where the partnership does not spend money directly, it will need to influence how partner bodies spend and it must be able to judge the impact of this funding in helping to achieve shared objectives.”
On sex::
“bodies need to improve the coordination within and between different partnerships, in order to ensure that they understand which of the mainstream services provided by their partners already help to deliver their own objectives”
On money issues in general::
“resources:will budgets be merged or pooled or will individual agency spending be aligned to partnership objectives? How will value for money be assessed? “
On mothers, mothers-in-laws, bosses etc::
“External reporting: are constituent organisations accountable to different external bodies andhow will that affect ways of working and performance management requirements?”
On pre-nups::
” if a partnership had a good writen agreement to start with, it has a 3 x higher chance of succeeding (60 vs 22 percent)”
On screwing-up::
“accountability: how will partners share in contributing to better performance and who is responsible if things go wrong?”
On complaints and redress:
“The ability to manage complaints effectively is the acid test of .. accountability in a partnership working. Therefore, it is central to the governance of partnerships”
On quarreling::
“assessing the contributions of different partners to complex outcomes:how will partners agree to share risks, costs, benefits and rewards? “
On divorce::
“Partners should regularly review how they work to determine whether the outputs and outcomes merit continued involvement”
On affairs:
“Partners need to bring clarity to the governance of their collaboration. This requies agreement among them about purpose, membership and accountabiliy”
On the characteristics of a Good Spouse:
“Hard characteristics include, reliable financial data, performance data and risk assessments, which are generated by robust systems and processess and which produce timely and appropriate information for decision makers (ie, me). The soft factors encompass leadership, which sets overall objectives, the roles and responsibilities required to achieve them and cultural attributes like openess, honesty and integrity (The Cadbury Priniciples)
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