Making every dollar count: fiscal insight for public sector leaders

In times of increasing demand on services and decreasing budget envelopes, public sector leaders without a finance background need the skills to make the best decisions about spending public money. 

This means learning to ask the right questions, weigh up trade-offs and make fiscal decisions that create the greatest public value while building resilience and financial sustainability in the long term. 

Professor Albie Brooks, from the Department of Accounting at the University of Melbourne and Lead Faculty for ANZSOG’s Fiscal Resilience & Optimisation program, talks to why it is important for public sector leaders who do not have a core finance background to gain fiscal judgement skills, and the ability to have informed and productive discussions with financial specialists in their organisations. 

Managing a high demand for services 

Professor Brooks says that public servants are operating in an environment of high scrutiny, high demand for services and have less scope for experimentation than the private sector. 

“We don't have an abundance of spare financial resources in the public sector. We have really strong competing demands for the same set of resources, which further constrains fiscal availability,” he said. 

“There's less opportunity to experiment because of the accountability and stewardship function that public servants have.  You have little control to increase that budgeted amount that you might be allocated for a program, so we need to maximise the outcomes from those finite resources.” 

He said public servants in operational roles, who were not finance trained but had responsibility for grants, program budgets, analysing spending priorities, or evaluating alternative use of available finances, would particularly benefit from learning how to apply fiscal resilience and optimise the use of available resources. 

“They need the tools to make the best financial decisions and execute their stewardship function. We want to give them the confidence and knowledge to engage in informed, productive discussions with the accounting and finance professionals that are available to support them,” he said. 

The importance of understanding risk 

An essential skill for any public sector leader is managing financial risk, and ensuring that participants have a sharp understanding of how to determine an appropriate level of risk. 

“We can't eliminate risk because we have to make decisions in the end about a particular course of action. But we can try to open our eyes to a broader set of potential outcomes and try to model those so that we can make them as informed a decision as possible,” Professor Brooks said. 

“Things like scenario analysis, which would have us thinking about the different likely outcomes for a particular program. The use of sensitivity analysis around what happens if things are better or worse than we expected, and how we construct numbers and potential outcomes for those various potential possibilities.”  

Being an effective financial steward 

Public sector leaders also have stewardship and accountability functions within their organisations. 

“If there is one thing I want to encourage – it’s the idea of fiscal resilience permeating through the organisation and organisational work units where more people have a better understanding of accounting and finance-related matters, so they can engage in conversations with the accounting and finance professionals,” he said. 

“Because that increased demand for government programs and government spending, we need to enhance our capacity around informed decision-making. 

“Fiscal resilience means that we're going to be able to do this over time, so we need to create an environment of longer-term fiscal management that's enduring.”  

Using practical challenges to build these important skills 

ANZSOG’s Fiscal Resilience & Optimisation is not a generic finance course, it focuses on applied fiscal judgement skills and brings participants own workplace finance challenges into the learning environment.  

“We're really interested in the specific finance-based challenges that participants face now, and are likely to face as they go through their careers. Because as you move up in an organisation the need for reasonable levels of financial literacy will be enhanced,” Professor Brooks said. 

“We'll be consistently asking participants to reflect on issues as they relate to their particular workplace.  This workplace application and reflection will be a program feature.” 

The program will cover a range of areas over the four sessions including:  

• Costing: understanding key elements of how to cost something and the different types of costs, including opportunity costs, that might help maximise the best use of resources and improve decision-making 

• Budgeting: how budgets are constructed and managed, along with the financial commitments required to meet community and stakeholder expectations. 

• Monitoring and stewardship: of programs and expenditure, understanding the role of audit functions, looking forward to the growing use of AI in accounting and finance and the public sector as well.  

“The broader problems the cohort face might be similar, but the specific circumstances, context and application will be what's different: whether it's limited money, not able to understand the broader financial issues, not understanding some costing-related data or information, or not being able to have the conversations that they would like to have with the accounting and finance professionals,” Professor Brooks said. 

Fiscal Resilience & Optimisation at a glance 

Information Session: ANZSOG will be holding an information session on Fiscal Resilience & Optimisation on 16 September 2026, 12-12.45pm AEST.  

Register here and find out if the program is right for you. 

Who it’s for: This program is designed for public sector Program Managers, Project Leaders, Team Leaders and Policy Advisors who manage budgets, programs or teams but do not have a core finance background. 

Course details: This program is delivered in four online sessions, running from 26 October to 20 November. Each session is two hours complemented by 2-3 hours of self-directed learning. 

What you’ll learn: A high-impact learning experience, Fiscal Resilience & Optimisation will enable you to: 

• Build confidence in the language of finance and develop a practical understanding of public sector financial frameworks. 

• Learn strategies to optimise resource allocation, identify value for money and strengthen financial sustainability. 

• Develop your ability to assess financial risk and make informed decisions in uncertain and resource-constrained environments. 

• Apply practical financial concepts directly to your day-to-day role through public sector-focused learning and real-world examples. 

Register Now for the 2026 program. Early bird pricing is available for a limited time.

Want to have a chat?  

Contact us at engage@anzsog.edu.au or 1300 ANZSOG