Financial Management

As the controlling officer of the LCSD's budget, the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services is responsible and accountable for all expenditure vested under her control. She has to ensure that the department provides quality services in an efficient, economic and effective manner.

Source of Funds

The department's activities are funded through the government's General Revenue Account. A total budget of $5,218 million was allocated for the 2004-05 financial year under Head 95 — Leisure and Cultural Services Department — to meet the operational and capital expenditures in recreation and sports, horticulture and amenities, heritage and museums, performing arts and public libraries, as well as to provide subventions to the Hong Kong Life Saving Society, the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, local sports bodies and the non-government organisation camps to help towards meeting their operating expenses.

Funding for major systems and equipment, costing more than $2 million per item and computerisation, comes from the government's Capital Works Reserve Fund. Major items include the Library Automation System ($123 million) and the Digital Library System ($144 million).

Capital works projects planned by the department are also funded by the Capital Works Reserve Fund. Both the funding provision and project progress are supervised by the Architectural Services Department.

Monitoring the Budget

The department maintains a budgetary control system to ensure that expenditure is properly monitored within the approved budget. Financial management and budgetary control are exercised by more than 150 budget holders through a three-tier structure. Line managers at different levels are delegated the authority to deploy resources, but they are responsible for exercising budgetary control and are accountable for every item of their spending.