After 10 years, two IFMAS systems not
operationalised…Billions in assets have
gone untraced – Former Auditor General
Since the implementation of the Integrated Financial Management and Accounting System (IFMAS) in 2004 under former
Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran
President Bharrat Jagdeo, two of its seven very important features have not been operationalised. In their absence, many financial analysts have opined that it opened up the floodgates for mismanagement and lack of proper accountability with regard to assets and consumables acquired by the government.
According to the website of the Ministry of Finance, the IFMAS emerged in January 2004 as the new mechanism for modernizing the business of the government of Guyana. This unit is responsible for recording all financial data generated by the Government and the payment function with reference to the issuing of cheques and the reconciliation of the main Bank Account, the recording of warrants; contingencies fund advances, deposit fund advances and the generation of the annual financial statements. It also corrects any mistakes made by Ministries, Department and Regions which may have inputted incorrect information. The generation of financial reports of all aspects of the data is also possible in this unit.
In speaking with this publication, Former Auditor General and anti-corruption advocate, Anand Goolsarran told this publication yesterday via a telephone interview that the system was expected to ensure that there would be a more accountable mechanism for recordkeeping as it relates to government’s procurement.
This newspaper was reliably informed that the IFMAS system was specially configured to meet the reporting and recording needs of Government’s public financial management systems. It is a reconfigured version of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) which is the trade name for the software sold by FreeBalance. FreeBalance is a Canadian company that specializes in software designed for large scale financial management, especially public financial management.
IFMAS has seven specific modules to be integrated into the Government’s budgeting, accounting and reporting systems, namely the Appropriation, Expenditure, General Ledger, Budget Preparation & Reporting System (BPRS), Purchasing, Revenue and Asset & Inventory Modules.
According to FreeBalance, the Asset and Inventory module allows Governments to track a range of variables such as, “… renewal of service contracts, insurance policies, warranty periods, software licensing and services rendered.” It lets Governments monitor modifications to asset records and manage asset items in all of the previously mentioned areas. The company also provides automatic item depreciation calculations that help Governments “identify the true value of public assets.”
In response to the Auditor General’s 2010 report on this deficiency, the Accountant General gave the undertaking that “plans are being made to implement the Purchasing and Asset and Inventory Modules”. However, ten years have elapsed and this important aspect of public financial management has not been in place. Year after year, the Auditor General’s report continues to be riddled with incidents of missing service records for equipment and vehicles of all kinds.
This, Goolsarran asserts, makes it impossible to track and justify maintenance spending on these items.
Bharrat Jagdeo
He said that there are reports of vehicles being retained and serviced at annual costs far in excess of the estimated depreciated values of these vehicles since valuations of these items are not regularly done.
He noted too that contracts end, warranty periods expire and insurance policies run out, costing the taxpayers extra dollars, while this software could have been tracking these issues if it had been implemented.
The Purchasing Module offers an even more interesting range of services. According to FreeBalance, it provides “an integrated procurement process” that “manages multi-item requisitions and purchases and the receiving process”. The module’s overview goes on to state that it allows for flexible expenditure management around “hard limits, percentage limits, budget, and waiver ceilings.” It also offers the creation of “obligations” for purchase orders that see subsequent liquidation upon receipt and payment of goods. The system even tracks shipments against purchase orders.
In the absence of these two modules, the Auditor General’s report is fraught with reports of goods that go ‘missing’, budgetary excesses by numerous Government agencies, and the constant cry of procurement inconsistencies across the board in every single facet of Government. Shadow Minster of Finance of A Partnership for National Unity, Carl Greenidge, has expressed much concern with the fact that after several years, the modules have not been operationalised.
When contacted yesterday, Financial Secretary Nirmal Rekha explained that the best person to pose such questions to – as to the status of the two modules – would be the Accountant General. “He has responsibility for that and as such he would be better able to answer such questions.”
Rekha noted, however, that the Ministry of Finance has put several mechanisms in place to improve its systems. Calls to Persaud by this publication have been fruitless.
Goolsarran said that in the absence of the modules, there are several crucial implications. He stated that in the absence of the modules, Guyana has less than desirable accountability framework and as such, billions of dollars in assets and consumables can go untracked.
“Those two modules are very important as they allow for the tracking of the physical assets. In their absence, it means that monies can be spent to acquire, for example, equipment or vehicles, and there would be no effective measures in place to trace them and to ensure that they are properly accounted for. In addition, when you expend funds to maintain those very assets, you would need a system in place to ensure that value for money is achieved and that money is not wasted.”
The anti-corruption advocate emphasized the urgent need for the two modules to be in place and operationalised to ensure proper accountability for all State assets.
