New Zealand Treasury
The New Zealand Treasury () is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the Government on economic policy, assisting with improving the performance of New Zealand's economy, and managing financial resources. Treasury has four main functions: History. The Treasury is one of New Zealand's oldest institutions, having been first established in 1840. Initially the Treasury consisted of just a few officials responsible for managing the Government's day-to-day financial affairs. In the 1920s the department took on a supervisory role over other departments’ spending and oversight of government borrowing. However , the most dramatic change to the role of the Treasury came in the 1950s when the department began to develop its role as economic advisor to the Government. The Treasury "hit the spotlight" in this role during a wave of far-reaching, and often controversial, economic reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s. This period also coincided with a general shift towards higher scrutiny of government activity and performance, making the Finance portfolio and Treasury operations more transparent. Since the 1950s, the Treasury has evolved from being a control agency to a "central agency". During this time, departments have become  largely free to manage their own resources, with the Treasury's role being to provide central agency leadership, co-ordination and monitoring. Between 2008 and 2011 Treasury administered the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme. Under the scheme the government bailed out nine finance firms including South Canterbury Finance to the value of approximately $2 billion. Today the Treasury employs 363 people, is the Government's lead advisor on economic and financial policy, and has the overall vision of helping governments achieve higher living standards for New Zealanders. Role. Specific areas of work undertaken by the Treasury include: Ministers. The  Treasury serves 7 portfolios and 5 ministers. List of Secretaries to the Treasury. The Secretary to the Treasury is the public service head of the department. The role was created in 1873 when the offices of paymaster-general and under treasurer were amalgamated. Structure. Senior leadership Units within the Treasury. Debt Management Office. The New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO) is the part of The Treasury responsible for managing the Crown's debt, its cash flows and its interest-bearing deposits. The 1988 reforms of the Government's financial management led to its establishment with the aim of improving the  management of the Government's debt portfolio. Central Agencies Shared Services. Central Agencies Shared Services (CASS) is a shared services centre housed within the Treasury. Set up in March 2012, it provides information technology and management, human resources, and finance services to the Treasury, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the State Services Commission. Aside from providing these services, the goal of CASS is to set an example for other state sector organisations in sharing service delivery functions. Crown company monitoring. The Crown owns many companies, including state-owned enterprises, Crown entities, and Crown Research Institutes. The  Treasury's Commercial Operations group assists the Crown in the running of these. This group includes what was the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit (COMU, pronounced "co-moo") from November 2009 to February 2014, and before that the Crown Company Monitoring and Advisory Unit. Controversies. The Treasury has courted controversy, particularly since the Rogernomics reforms of the 1980s. Given the agency's key influence and impact on fiscal policy, it has been accused by critics in recent years of inaccurate forecasts, regulatory capture and political partisanism, and accepting corporate gifts from the financial industry.