Latest update February 8th, 2025 5:56 AM
Latest News
- Soaring gold price entices Canadian company to renew permits in Guyana
- Terrence Campbell accuses Govt. of weaponizing Police Force after calls for accountability with oil revenues
- China slams US as Panama quits Belt and Road Initiative
- Guyana extradites fugitive to Canada
- AFC Leader Nigel Hughes welcomes any investigation into lands he acquired
A deliberate act meant to perpetuate a lack of accountability
…a serious indictment on the Auditor General’s Office – Ram
By Gary Eleazar
It was not by accident but rather deliberate that the Guyana Government did not operationalise two very critical modules of the Integrated Financial Management and Accounting System (IFMAS) for more than 10 years.
This is the view held by Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, who yesterday in a brief telephone interview with this publication weighed in on the predicament where two of the most critical modules of the $132M accounting system have not been put to use.
The IFMAS system was designed with seven aspects, namely, the Appropriation, Expenditure, General Ledger, Budget Preparation & Reporting System (BPRS), Purchasing, Revenue and Asset & Inventory Modules.
Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram
The Purchasing and Asset and Inventory Modules are the ones that have not been implemented.
Without the two modules in use, Ram said that this facilitates a lack of transparency and accountability.
He observed that former President Bharrat Jagdeo, under whose watch the system was put in place, was not known for his respect for transparency and accountability.
The unimplemented Purchasing Module seeks to provide the ability to create purchase requisitions and purchase order with self-creating commitments to reserve the necessary funds; provide the ability to 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 provide the ability to create an asset record when goods are received.
The unimplemented Inventory/Assets Module seeks to provide the ability to create inventory and asset entries when entering a new record based on the requisitions; provide the ability to have automatic stock ordering when the system hits a user-defined reorder point; provide the ability for tracking issues and receipts; provide the ability to enter receipts for deliveries to stores via the Purchasing module; provide the ability to make adjustments to reflect inventory average and shortages and provide the ability to provide queries and reports on current inventory, stock activity and receiving reports.
According to Ram, there is nothing to suggest that when the system was purchased, the two unimplemented modules were not also purchased, which raises serious suspicion, given the lack of accountability now in existence.
Ram said another even more puzzling indictment is the fact that the Auditor General over the years has never flagged the situation in his report as being of importance and explained the consequences to the public funds by not having the two modules in place.
“This is a serious indictment of the Auditor General,” said Ram, who also questioned whether there would have been conspiracy at work.
According to Ram, the public has for too long allowed the Auditor General’s Office to flout its responsibility to the nation.
The 2012 Auditor General Report only observed that the Purchasing and Asset & Inventory module is still to be operational.
Over the weekend, the contentious issue was raised with none other than the Head of State, President Donald Ramotar and he committed to having his Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh meet with the press to provide answers to the numerous questions.
IFMAS was implemented on January 1, 2004 under former President Bharrat Jagdeo. Its intention was to modernize the business of the Government. It is responsible for recording all financial data generated by the Government. These include the issuing of cheques, recording of warrants; contingencies fund advances and the generation of the annual financial statements.
The accounting system was specially designed to suit Guyana’s financial landscape.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Due diligence on investments must become a priority
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- In 1985, the Forbes Burnham government looking for economic salvation, entered into a memorandum... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
