Written by Miss Quirk
This week seven Year 12 Business and Economics students competed in the Sixth Form Management Games, which is led by The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). Business people working within public finance run the complex event to simulate the scenarios they face on a daily basis when making difficult financial decisions.
This year’s competition was based around a local councils budget and the students having to cover a £7 million deficit in the budget from the previous year. They were required to work as a team to decide on a council budget, including which local services to keep or reduce based on the needs and demographic of the area.
This meant using the costing of different projects such as street lighting and local crèches to tax rates and medical service. It was the students responsibility to then devise a budget based on this and other financial data given to them. The students tackled the challenge head on and enjoyed justifying this budget to not only the council, but also trade union representatives and local MP’s. They had to write a report, have this scrutinised, re-evaluate their plans and present to a panel of judges where they were questioned.
Louie acted as chief executive throughout the competition, which meant that he had to organise the team and ensure that everyone worked well together and all their plans were coordinated. Oscar took on the role of director of finance throughout the competition meaning he organised the budget and considered every departments’ finances. Oscar also had to present these finances to the panel of judges and ensure he was able to explain these concisely. Luke took on the role of neighbourhood regeneration, Charlotte took on the role of director of children and youth services, Eva took on the role of director of adult and social care services, Harry took on the role of recruitment, Johnny took on the role of regeneration; all meaning these students had to balance the needs and wants of the local area with having the finances needed to pay for these.
They all worked hard all day along and should be really proud of their achievement!
