Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's public sector plays a dominant role in the Northern Ireland economy. Public expenditure is equivalent to 62%; of GDP, with 34% of total employment and 60% of female employment, currently in the public sector.

The Northern Ireland Government departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies have been major clients of PricewaterhouseCoopers for over 30 years. This has helped us develop, the Province's largest multi-disciplinary team of Government and Public Sector specialists and a thorough understanding of the Northern Ireland environment and the complex issues facing public sector organisations within the Province.

The current modernisation agenda and the Review of Public Administration (RPA) represent the greatest change to the NI Public Sector in a generation. RPA and the associated reforms will have a particular impact on Local Government, Education, Health & Social Services and on Northern Ireland's myriad of advisory bodies.

Potential issues

Financial management

The need for enhanced performance and planning, objective setting, management reporting and corrective action to meet the requirements of resource accounting and budgeting (RAB).

Customer service

The need for customer-facing public sector organisations to benchmark and monitor customer satisfaction levels and implement performance improvement initiatives as a matter of priority. This is vital to meet the key objectives of improving service delivery throughout the Northern Ireland public sector.

Organisational change

Modernising management and administration processes across the Northern Ireland public sector as a result of both RPA and the reform programme. This includes the implementation of shared services and common systems as well as an increasing focus on people management and motivation issues.

Infrastructure deficit

The Strategic Investment Board (SIB), working in partnership with public sector organisations, to address Northern Ireland's significant infrastructure deficit. The focus of infrastructure investment will be on water/wastewater projects, health and education, with strategic use of the Private Finance Initiative and Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

PwC services

• Acting as key accounting adviser and training provider during the recent transition to resource accounting and budgeting;
• Supporting on performance improvement projects;
• Supporting on programme and change management;
• Supporting on human resource management aspects;
• Providing procurement and financial advice on Public Private Partnerships and Private Finance Initiative projects;
• Supporting on policy and strategy feasibility reviews;
• Supporting on economic and financial appraisals of projects;
• Conducting market research and customer satisfaction surveys for Northern Ireland public sector organisations;
• Providing a range of assurance and auditing services; and
• Providing a range of tax support.