Ministries, Departments taught about Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System
The Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), has organised a workshop in Accra for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on the deployment of funds other than Internally Generated Fund (IGF) to the new system.
The two-day workshop, which was attended by Finance Officers of MMDAs, also discussed how the 2015 budget would be uploaded on to the GIFMIS system, to synchronise with the national budget with national expenditure, as a way of checking budget overruns.
Alhaji Siraj Tanico, GIFMIS Project Accountant, said the essence of the workshop was to enable the MMDA’s to get first-hand data to help find a way forward in bringing the IGF on board.
He said the new system allowed all MMDAs to upload their prepared budgets on it, instead of doing them manually, explaining that it would help ensure efficiency and transparency in the management of public funds.
He said with the new system the government would be able to keep track of all expenditure by MMDAs at the end of every year.
He said the current structure was very flexible compared to the previous one and urged MMDAs to move on to it.
Mr Vide Komla Ofori, Internal Oracle Expert at GIFMIS, said the new system would help minimize duplication of efforts, improve budget preparation and budget execution, as well as improve financial reporting and executing.
He acknowledged that the initial stages of implementation would be challenging for some but it would become easy with time.
“It’s very necessary to change, because we are changing and the conscientisation must start now,’’ he said. “One must, therefore, appreciate the account combination rather than appreciating the natural account”.
The System, he said, would allow the MMDAs to spend according to their budgets and encouraged them to follow the laws in which the GIFMIS system operated.
The GIFMIS project is using a centralised Integrated Information Communication Technology Assisted Financial System that is connecting the Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as MMDAs to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to ensure efficiency and transparency in the disbursement of public funds.
The deployment process would be piloted at seven MMDAs, namely, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Tema Metropolitan Assembly, Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Cape coast Metropolitan Assembly, Ho Municipal Assembly, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly, and the Obuasi Municipal Assembly.
Source: GNA