Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 06, 2014 News
“I have a fair appreciation of technology and the tools that we use often times carry functionalities that we don’t touch, look at your own computer and the things that they do that we never think of, that we have no use of are of course quite significant.”.”
By Gary Eleazar
He conceded to not being versed in the Integrated Financial Management and Accounting System (IFMAS), but Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon’s attempt to explain why two of its seven modules are not implemented, has left more questions
than answers.
“I would say that those five modules that have been implemented over the last 10 years must have satisfied 100 per cent of the Ministry of Finance’s and the administration’s demand for what IFMAS offers.”
This includes automatics vote ledger and the move from manual methods to assisted computer based financing and accounting.
The IFMAS system was designed with seven aspects — the Appropriation, Expenditure, General Ledger, Budget Preparation & Reporting System (BPRS), Purchasing, Revenue and Asset & Inventory Modules.
The Purchasing and Asset and the Inventory Modules are the ones that have not been implemented.
Dr Luncheon, offering an explanation why the two modules were not implemented, said, “I have a fair appreciation of technology and the tools that we use often times carry functionalities that we don’t touch.
“Look at your own computer and the things that they do that we never think of; things that we have no use of are of course quite significant.”
He suggested that while the two modules were deemed important enough to be installed, in the Guyana context they are not deemed as important as the other five.
Confronted with the fact that IFMAS was designed specifically for the Guyana context and as such is required, Dr Luncheon chose to not offer any more contributions on the subject.
The matter was brought to the fore when it was discovered that the two modules, have still not been operationalised 1o years after the installation. according to Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, this lends to the possibility of billions in assets not being tracked by the IFMAS System.
The IFMAS system was specially configured to meet the reporting and recording needs of Government’s public financial management systems.
In the absence of the 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, said Goolsarran.
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.”
Dr Luncheon’s comments come on the heels of an explanation by Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill, that the modules have not been put to use because the Ministry lacks the capacity.
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