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Money, money, money. Managing an end of financial year process across so many different services after 12 months that has seen many changes has been akin to herding cats.

All our services had pro-formas to complete by a specific time and although many achieved this in advance of the deadline there was a problem with a hard core of delinquent cats intent on doing things in their own time and to a different set of rules.

Following up information provided by one service, I asked why they had spent less than their allocation, despite asking for extra money for most of the year to offset cuts we were forced to make to their service. The answer was that they had spent all their allocation. Confused I asked why they had returned a signed form declaring a spend of X when they now say it is Y? "Ah well, the person that does the books hasn’t put in the salaries for Pauline who has been doing extra hours on the Children’s Fund work because Carol has gone off on maternity leave - sorry, what do you want us to do?" I bite my tongue, ask how Carol is getting on and say I would like the truth and quickly please.

I hear on the radio that there is a rare state of mind which is the opposite of paranoia. Instead of feeling everything is conspiring against you, you believe everyone is there to help you. Listening to our service providers explain how being late with returns will actually be better in the long run I wonder if they think that the finance officer and I are afflicted by this altered belief system.

Of course, we are just one of several sources of money for them - anything from 5 per cent to more than 90 per cent of their annual incomes. The rest is made up from various funding streams, all with different payment, reporting and accounting protocols. It is easy for us to be seduced by a sense of our own importance - "do my forms, sort out my return, prioritise our requests" - ignoring the competing demands on these organisations.

"Year end" seems to go on for weeks. There is a story about a music teacher doing an end of year report on a fictitious child who was slipped on the bottom of a register out of mischief. The report confirmed the child was quiet and conscientious, but really did need to practice the recorder more at home. I suspect that some services are so overwhelmed with returns at the moment that if we asked them to sign off a spend they hadn’t had they would do it to get us off their backs.

At the end of it, all the books balance and I am beyond happy. There are rightly miaows of discontent and requests to change financial processes so they coincide rather than collide with other commissioners and funders, but for now I’m just glad to leave last year behind. Cheers.