Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
Governments annual financial statements & report of Auditor General key accountability documents Parliament sets the annual budget Accounting Officers accountable to Parliament (and citizens) for financial management
Expert panel
Expert panel to advice & review the study: Reckford Kampanje Auditor General of
Malawi (and former Accountant General)
Common statements
Statement of Receipts & Payments -comparison with the budget (Botswana, Mauritius,
Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania & Uganda). May be split recurrent/capital
Statement of Financial Position comparison to previous year (Botswana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa & Uganda)
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement comparison to previous years figures (Botswana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda)
timeliness are they made public promptly? understandability are they clear and key aspects and terms explained? openness is the key financial information made available? consistency is the information consistent from year to year and between accounts?
Timeliness
Timeliness
Audited financial statements made public promptly after the year end? Presented to parliament within 12 months of the year end Issued within nine months - so available when the budget discussed by parliament (Burkina Faso, Mauritius, Tanzania, Uganda & South Africa)
What is the use of out of date information? May conflict with the idea of consolidation or detailed disclosures Needs draft financial statements produced within five or six months Audit completed in a further three or four months
Understandability
Understandability
Covering letters from the Minister of Finance and/or Secretary to the Treasury (Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa & Uganda) Commentaries provided by the Accountant & Auditor General (many countries) Explanation of key terms (Ghana, Namibia, Rwanda & South Africa) Graphs & charts (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritius & South Africa)
Understandability
Summary of last five years (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritius, South Africa) Reference to the law & basis modified cash (Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania & Uganda) Opinion of Auditor General (Botswana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania & Uganda)
Understandability
Listing of entities in the accounts (Tanzania & types in Ghana & South Africa) Length - nearly 2,500 pages (Kenya), only 30 pages - main report (Sierra Leone)
Openness
Comparison of budget & actual with clear explanations of significant variances Government debt: - individual loans (Botswana), - details of interest rates (Mauritius) - relevant exchange rates (Ghana) Contingent liabilities (loan guarantees) - individual cases (Mauritius) - summary amounts (South Africa)
Revenue arrears (common) - analysed by MDA, with previous year comparison (Mauritius, Tanzania & Uganda) Payment arrears - common definitions not used (Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa & Uganda) Losses & wasteful expenditure - individual cases (Botswana) - total for each MDA (Tanzania)
Donor assistance
Financial assistance (loans and grants) received from individual donors often reported (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda & Tanzania) - amounts in the local currency and the currency of the donor (Rwanda) - project or non-cash aid (Burkina Faso, Mauritius & Tanzania)
Private benefits
Proceeds of privatisation (Rwanda, Sierra Leone & Ghana) Outstanding loans, advances & imprests (many countries) Salaries etc for senior politicians & officials; reference to asset declarations (five sub-Saharan Africa countries publish)
Published on Internet
Consistency
Consistency
Consistent figures between different statements (Nigeria and Sierra Leone) Consistent format from year to year (Mauritius and Sierra Leone) Reliable and free from material error
Next steps?
to identify major technical issues in implementation.. [modifications needed] in light of those issues Task Force reported to IPSAS Board June 2010, including recommendation to: join with other international and national organisations to develop guidance on what may be encompassed under the modified cash and modified accrual bases of financial accounting
Next steps?
Development of guidance on modified cash basis by ESAAG? Pilot trials in individual countries?
Questions
Consolidated accounts
Consolidation of: government ministries, departments and agencies parastatal organisations and local governments?
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Required for companies - needed for governments? Confusion with Statement of Payments and Receipts? What additional information is being provided?
Basic budget documents: Pre-Budget Statement Budget Summary Executives Budget Proposal Citizens Budget Enacted Budget In-Year Reports Year-End Report
Keep the accounts simple, but yet be able to show how the government has utilised the resources under its control. That should be the purpose of public sector accounts.
Teh Ben Chu, former Deputy Accountant General, Malaysia 2008
Thank you!
Questions or comments!
Andy Wynne andywynne@lineone.net