New financial system introduced will improve governance - Chief Director

The Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) is prepared to improve on the efficiency in the country’s public financial governance.

Mr. Felix Chaahaah, Chief Director at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council (BARCC) said the absence of some managers and directors of State institutions created vacuums and delayed public financial governance.

He said with the manual system of financial governance in the country, the financial administration and management for accountability in the State institutions ceased over a period because of their absence.

Mr. Chaahaah said this at the opening session of a two-day Regional Sensitisation workshop on GIFMIS organised by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) in Sunyani on Tuesday.

The event was attended by 80 participants drawn from Regional Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Regional Accountants and Auditors and other stakeholders.

The workshop held simultaneously in Western Region and Upper West Region, was to introduce the participants to GIFMIS and prepare for its deployment in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

It would be held simultaneously on Thursday and Friday in Upper East Region, Central Region and Ashanti Region to be followed on next Tuesday and Wednesday in Northern Region, Eastern Region and Volta Region.

GIFMIS launched in 2009 is designed to produce an entity-wide state-of-the-art budget and financial system that will serve as the official system of record to meet the government’s budget, financial accounting and reporting, disbursements, internal control and auditing requirements.

Mr.. Chaahaah said the need to equip government institutions with computers was not only to facilitate smooth implementation of the system but also to enhance efficiency of personnel.

Mr. Cephas Narh Dosoo, Chairman of the Editorial Board of GIFMIS, said the workshops were to pave way for the establishment of Transaction Processing Centres in all Regional Treasuries and computers and other vital equipment had been procured.

He announced that practical training would be organised in all the Regions within the next two weeks for participants to begin the deployment of the system.

Mr. Paul Asumadu, Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of CAGD, said GIFMIS involved the use of “Oracle E-Business Suite software, a single Information Technology Financial System with modules like Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Purchasing and Cash Management”.

He said the General Ledger and Procure to Pay (P2P) had been deployed to all MDAs in Accra while the deployment of the P2P module into the Regions would be completed by the end of November 2012 and continued in the metropolitan, municipal and districts by early 2013.

Mr. Asumadu said the benefits of GIFMIS would be more effective and efficient management of public resources and promotion of good governance.

Mr. Daniel Amin Sahnoon, Member of the National implementation of GIFMIS and Team Leader for Brong-Ahafo Region, with a slide presentation, educated participants on the history of financial administration and governance in the country, overview of GIFMIS, reasons for its introduction, objectives and benefits.