Mach 2 Consulting offers a dynamic long-term financial planning process and model.

Since 2020, the Local Government Act has mandated that councils must prepare a Financial Plan for at least 10 years by 31 October in the year following elections. The Act requires Councils to always maintain a Financial Plan of at least 10 years, and so best practice demands that it be reviewed and updated on a rolling annual cycle.

The Act requires that the ongoing financial viability of a Council must be ensured. The challenge of reliably and flexibly modelling your council’s long-term financial viability is at the core of this.
Effective long-term financial planning requires:

• Effective engagement with key decision-makers (councillors/executive).
• An accessible, dynamic and trusted financial model capable of scenario development.
• A model with versatile variables and ‘levers’ that you can use to plot realistic future scenarios.
• Clarity/links with other organisational planning instruments and Plans.

Understanding and trust by key players in the process (and the model itself) are paramount.

Mach 2’s LTFP model is not a ‘black box’ predictor of future outcomes: this undermines credibility and defeats the very purpose of planning. That is, to identify what’s controllable and needs to change to deliver outcomes aligned with your council’s financial goals.
So, your LTFP needs to be dynamic, accessible as circumstances and needs change and focused on what is controllable.