WILL VOYAGER BE CALLED TO ACCOUNT?

19-05-2008

Concerns about Birmingham Council’s new Voyager IT payments system don’t just focus on the thousands of unpaid invoices – now insiders wonder whether the City will meet its deadline for closing down its annual accounts.

The books should be completed by June 30 – six weeks time – so that the auditors can check them in time for the Revenue’s cut-off date of September 30.

Failure to meet the deadline won’t only make the authority liable for a fine, it could affect their Comprehensive Performance Assessment – the standard by which the Audit Commission makes its judgements.

One of the key problems is that Voyager has two “reporting tools” designed to check that the figures tot up; unfortunately, there are numerous discrepancies between the numbers when they are delivered by one tool compared to another.

Whenever they don’t tally, the number crunchers have to try and sort out where the discrepancy occurs, causing long delays.

One insider said, “There’s a grave danger they won’t meet this deadline, which would be very embarrassing to say the least.

"What they are trying to do with Voyager isn't inherently ridiculous or wrong, but the programme is wildly over-ambitious and consultant driven.

"I can't see any way the information will all be ready in six weeks."

Any more info about Voyager? Contact editor@thestirrer.com Discretion assured.