– Govt. to review complete accounting packageBy Kiana WilburgEven with the partial implementation of the Integrated Financial Management and Accounting System (IFMAS) under the previous administration, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan disclosed that there still exist some glaring weaknesses in government’s financial systems.As a result, Jordan said that a complete review will be done on the IFMAS. He made this, among other statements, during his budget presentation on Monday.The Finance Minister recalled that in 2004, the past administration began the phased implementation of the system. This change saw a move from a completely manual system to an automated accounting system.The computerized accounting system was created by the Canadian Company Freebalance. It is intended to ensure accountability and transparency regarding how taxpayers’ money is budgeted and spent by the government.A specially tailored system was made for Guyana by the company and was secured at a cost of $132M.? It comes with seven components: Appropriation, Expenditure, General Ledger, Budget Preparation & Reporting System (BPRS), Purchasing, Revenue and Asset & Inventory Modules. After ten years, the Purchasing and Asset and Inventory Modules are the ones still to be implemented.Minister of Finance, Winston JordanLast year, this newspaper carried a series of articles showing how liability for assets and monies could be improved if all the modules belonging to the IFMAS system were operable.During his 2015 Budget speech, Jordan revealed that after more than ten years and the expenditure of vast sums of money, the four modules are “operating sub-optimally” or not to the highest standard.Jordan said, “We have not been able to avoid some shocking revelations about weaknesses in the financial systems.”He noted some of these to be; bank accounts not being reconciled, spending beyond budgeted amounts, unauthorized expenditure, unrecorded liabilities, and missing assets.Jordan said that Government will begin a complete review of the operations of IFMAS to see whether it meets the objectives of a modern, dynamic public sector managing billions of dollars in the delivery of goods and services.The Finance Minister said that an initial effort to strengthen public financial management through the strengthening of the accounting and reporting systems will be executed in conjunction with the country’s development partners.In a previous interview, Jordan told this newspaper that he will investigate the matter of the unused modules Guyana paid millions for, as he is familiar with the system.“That system was initially brought here under a grant agreement with the Canadians. Any subsequent module to be added will be under that licence and would have to be paid for by us…I have not spoken to the staff here, but what I understand is that when it was first put in, we had two or three modules working and later on, we had two or three more added, and we would have paid for that process,” Jordan had expressed.He added, “You have to bring in the people to activate it and so forth, but I will be the first to admit that the others which are not in place are extremely useful.”The Finance Minister had said that were the Asset and Inventory module in place, the system of handing over of assets would have been “much easier and believable.”That very module provides the ability to: create an inventory for asset entries; track issues and receipts; enter receipts for deliveries to stores via the Purchasing Module; make adjustments to reflect inventory average and shortages; and provide queries and reports on current inventory, stock activity and receiving reports.The unimplemented Purchasing Module provides the ability to: create purchase requisitions and orders with self-creating commitments to reserve the necessary funds; record the receipts and return of goods and automatically update the purchase order to reflect the transactions; complete integration with the payment process to reflect payment for goods ordered and received; and create an asset record when goods are received.Jordan had said,Authentic Jerseys China, “I am not saying that people have cheated, but I am saying that because it is not in place,Wholesale Adidas Hockey Jerseys, you still have to go and verify that these assets are in place. For example, if ‘X’ ministry says these are the vehicles we are handing over, you still have to verify through carrying out a check, that the records reflect the truth”.“There is no proper register of the properties of the ministries, or an asset register that says over the last five or three years of your time in government, these are the assets which were transferred, disposed of or sold.”Jordan had said for this purpose, the Asset and Inventory Module “would be beautiful.”He made it clear however that,<a href="http://www.cheapjerseysfan.us.com