Embrace technology to remain relevant — Accountant-General
The acting Controller and Accountant-General, Mr Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, has advised accounting professionals to embrace technology-enabled accounting for them to remain relevant at all times.
He said part of the reforms within the accounting profession was technology that would lead to a digital and paperless economy.
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The Controller and Accountant-General gave the advice at an annual conference of the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) in Takoradi last Friday on the theme: ‘Ghana Beyond Aid agenda: The role of the public sector accountant’.
According to Mr Kwaning-Bosompem, current trends demanded that accountants embrace computerisation or be left behind.
He explained that a flagship intervention, the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), had been introduced as the core electronic platform for prudent and transparent public financial management, as prescribed by the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act.
“In spite of its initial challenges with the availability of the Internet and other logistics, it is heartwarming to note that the GIFMIS has been deployed in virtually all covered entities, ministries, departments and agencies, as well as metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies and other para-statals throughout the country,” he added.
Regulations 81 and 82 of the PFM Act 921, he said, mandated principal spending officers of covered entities to use the GIFMIS to process all financial transactions, and that anything short of that was tantamount to an illegality.
He also reminded public sector accountants that the PFM Act remained a reference source which provided a sound legal and institutional foundation for the regulation of public financial management in the country.
The act defines the responsibilities of persons entrusted with the management of public resources to ensure that public funds are sustainable and consistent with the level of public debt.
Other initiatives
On other initiatives meant to achieve results in public sector financial accounting, he said a Treasury Single Account (TSA) system was launched by the government in August 2017.
“It is aimed at the rationalisation of government bank accounts with commercial banks and the Bank of Ghana and the implementation of a bank accounts tracking system to enable the CAGD and all MDAs/MMDAs to have real-time visibility of all government bank accounts with commercial banks,” he said.
The TSA, Mr Kwaning-Bosompem added, would curtail increasing debt servicing, high short-term yields which distorted the yield curve and inefficient cash management and budget implementation, with the ultimate aim of lowering actual government borrowing and reducing pressure on short-term yields.
“It also ensures that the funding needs of MDAs are met in a timely order,” he said.
Prevention of unearned salaries
He further explained that the Electronic Salary Payment System (ESPV) ensured the integrity of government payroll and also prevented the payment of unearned salaries.
“Since its introduction in 2014, the ESPV has, to a very large extent, reduced the incidence of what had become known as ‘ghost workers’ who used to resurrect at the end of each month to collect unearned salaries which was a drain on state finances,” Mr Kwaning-Bosompem said.
Revenue generation
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said as public sector accountants, the CAGD and its staff had the duty of not only receiving, disbursing and accounting for public funds but also guiding MMDAs and MDAs on how to make money.
“You should not be ‘expenditure accountants’ only. I wish to reiterate that the role of today’s public sector accountant is not limited to the efficient use of public funds but also wealth creation through innovative means,” he added.