The Treasury is not doing enough to spread the good practice shown by some departments, MPs have claimed.

Members of the Commons public accounts committee have praised the leadership of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for addressing problems which had contributed to under-spends in four consecutive years.

However, the report from the select committee has questioned whether the Treasury has done enough to encourage the same improvements elsewhere in Whitehall.

The committee's report follows up an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO). Committee chairman Edward Leigh said - during an evidence hearing with senior FCO and Treasury officials - that the FCO's "pat on the back" from the NAO was "richly deserved".

Over the past three years the department has implemented a 'Five Star Finance' programme which is due to be completed in 2010. Changes have included the appointment of a professionally qualified finance director and an increase in the number of professionally qualified accountants in the department's finance section.

The report notes that the FCO has also taken "full advantage of having an experienced non-executive director on the board", KPMG global vice-chairman Alistair Johnson.

As the report was published on Thursday, Leigh said: "The benefits have been tangible across the department in the form of better financial skills and understanding of the importance of good financial management and improved confidence in the figures, leading to better informed decisions."

The next step, the committee has warned, is for the department to get better at costing its different activities and to start benchmarking locations against each other.

Leigh also praised the department's "keenness to share across government what it has learnt about improving financial management practice", but questioned whether the Treasury has the same level of enthusiasm for spreading best practice.

"The Treasury has perhaps not done enough so far to lead the process," he said.

The committee heard that the Treasury’s ‘Financial Reporting and Management Group’, attended by senior financial officials from across Whitehall, held regular seminars, but MPs have questioned whether the Treasury is actively encouraging departments to follow the FCO's example of appointing professionally qualified finance directors and using the experience of non-executive directors such as Johnson.