ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

A STUDY ON
SAVE THE CHILDREN-USA
March-2009

CONDUCTED BY
M. Atiqur Rahman (Atik)
Student of Business Administration (BBA)
Patuakhali Science and Technology University
Dumki, Patuakhali-8602
BANGLADESH
E-mail: atik.bdpalo@yahoo.com
ISD-+88-01712-167606

Patuakhali Science and Technology University

Dumki, Patuakhali-8602
BANGLADESH
www.pstu.ac.bd
 Flashback
Save the
Children USA

Save the children USA is a leading nonprofit humanitarian relief and development organization
working in more than 40 countries throughout the developing world and the United States. Their
Mission is to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need.
The inspiration and vision for save the children came in great part from the international
children’s rights movement begun in England in 1919 by Eglantyne Jebb, founder of the British
save the children Fund. From this early effort in the hills and hollows of Harlan Country,
Kentucky, grew a self help philosophy and practice still at work today in more than 45 countries:
providing communities with a hand up, not a handout. This approach-working with families to
define and solve the problems their children and communities face and utilizing a board array of
strategies to ensure self-sufficiency is the cornerstone of all save the children’s programs,
including Jibon-o- Jibika.

Save the children is also a member of the International save the children Alliance, comprising 29
independent, national save the children organizations working in more than 100 countries to
ensure the well-being of children around the world.
Since its establishment in 1972, the Bangladesh Country office of save the children has been
implementing integrated community development programs with a special focus on the poor and
disadvantaged population. Today SC programs are spread across the entire country; with
programs in health, education, food security that are implemented in collaboration with a wide
range of partners including the government, other public and private institutions and community
based organizations.

In 2004, SC programs reached a population of over 20 million though different program

strategies. SC programs are funded from a variety of sources including private individuals, the
United State Agency for International Development (USAID); Gates foundation, the
Government of Bangladesh and the Global Fund for Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria.

Major activities of Save the Children USA:

Improvement of household food production.
Establishment of village model farms (VMFs).
Training of local technical specialists.
Provision of inputs.
Community based management of acute respiratory illness (ari), diarrhea and anemia.
Growth monitoring and promotion (GMP), demonstrative-feeding sessions (DFS).
Support EPI and vitamin a plus campaigns.
Improved quality of maternal and child health care services.
Improved sanitation facilities.
Water point development/repair.
 Behavior change and communication.

Improved community emergency response capacity.

Rehabilitation of evacuation shelters (Cyclone shelters).
Strengthening cyclone preparedness program (CPP) activities.
Emergency contingency planning.
Skills training for SC, GoB and CPP staff.
Advocate on child rights to protection and enhanced response during emergencies.

Jibon-O-Jibika Program:
Save the children federation, Inc. will be implementing a 5-year integrated program to promote
food security in 11 upozilas of Barisal division in Bangladesh. Titled “Jibon-0-Jibika (life and
livelihood) the program is proposing innovative and exciting initiatives aimed at improving
nutritional behavior and outcomes among women and children in one of the most vulnerable
coastal populations in Bangladesh. Building on complementary skills, the program will be
implemented by save the children in close partnership with Helen International, NGO forum for
Drinking water and supply and sanitation and cyclone preparedness program of the Bangladesh
Red crescent society. Jibon-O-Jibika (J&J) will bring together activities to promote household
food production, improved access to and quality of basic health services as well as improving
resilience among families who are under the constant threat of natural disasters. Employing a
combination of approaches community mobilization, training and capacity building: SC and
partners will strive to increase knowledge of appropriate practices, increase availability, access
and quality of services in the target communities. At the same time, efforts will be undertaken to
decrease community and household vulnerabilities to natural, economic and social shocks.

Along with the wide range of community level activities, SC will also directly distribute a ration
of hard red winter wheat, lentils and fortified vegetable oil to at least 75% of all households in
the target area. The ratio is designed to be an incentive to combat the higher maternal and child
malnutrition in Barisal.
J&J has selected areas and communities that are at greatest risk to natural disasters with limited
access to services making them extremely vulnerable to poverty, poor health status and
malnutrition.
The main goal of Jibon-O-Jibika program is decreased household food insecurity in 3 districts of
Bangladesh’s Barisal division.

Area of operation:
Jibon-O-Jibika is designed to benefit over 0.18 million children under 2 years, over 72
thousand women and over 2.6 million (direct and indirect) beneficiaries from 470,886
households in 11 upazilas of 3 districts of Barisal division.

District Upazila
Barisal Babugonj, Bakergonj, Muladi
Patuakhali Bauphal, Galachipa, Patuakhali Sadar
 Bhola Burhanuddin, Bhola Sadar, Daulatkhan,
Lalmohon, Tazumuddin.

Accounting procedure
Save the Children USA
Impact Area office Barisal

Save the Children USA, a name of a most organized and technically advanced nonprofit
developmental organization throughout the world. They maintain a qualitative and effective
accounting procedure. It is possible because of their effective and most experienced team of
accountants and finance officials. A high quality technical and scientific maintenance of the
accounts section build this organization as a role model for the developmental sector. The
computerized accounting system of this organization gives it a multidimensional effectiveness.
The Barisal Regional office of Save the Children USA is a five-year project office of “Jibon-O-
Jibika” program. The accounts section of this office act as a linkage office of the District Area
Office and Upazila Offices of above mentioned program. Mr. Hemaetul Islam, Deputy Manager
of Finance act as the Regional chief of Finance. The effective working environment of the office
also gives the employee more satisfaction than any other organizations of this region.

Picture-1: Global Boys working with the Deputy Manager-Finance

Mr. Hemaetul Islam, during the survey.

Here we describe the accounting procedure of the Impact Area office, Barisal in the collaboration
with the Home office of Save the children USA.
Recording of Transactions
Save the Children USA use the SUNLIGHT Accounting Software in recording of daily
transactions. When the payment is made or the money is receipt the entry is made to the software
on the basis of some specific code. The supporting voucher is also attached and keeps manually.
But the phenomenon is different in the perspective of the country office. They use the SUN
Accounting Software in recording their transactions. The District and Upazila Area offices of
Save the children USA in Barisal Region gives their monthly financial report to the Impact Area
Office and then the Regional office accumulate these report and forward to the country office.
The country office also sends this report to the Home office at West Port USA.

Home Office

Country Office
Financial Reporting

Regional Office

District Area Office

Upazila level Office

Illustration-1: The process of financial Reporting of Save the

Children USA

SUNLIGHT- Accounting Software: The Impact area office of Save the

Children USA, Barisal use accounting package software named “Sunlight”. The software
is designed in such way where each accounts contain a specific code. When the
transaction is made such as the expenditure is identified or the payment is made the
transaction is recorded in the system. Those transactions are made throughout the month
has been recorded by the system in a daily basis. At the end of the month when the time
of reporting come the computer gives a summarized form of report about cash inflows
and outflows during the month with the detail description. These copies of report then
send to the country office.
 SUN- Accounting Software: The country office of Save the Children USA,
Bangladesh use the package named “SUN Accounting Software”. The operation of this
system is quite similar with the SUNLIGHT software. Its report is send to the Home
office of Save the Children USA at West Port USA. They also collect report from allover
the regional office of Bangladesh. When the home office get this report from more than
45 country offices then it prepare the annual report /financial statement and published for
clarity and better understanding among the nations.

Reacquisition of funds:
In every starting of the month the impact area office, Barisal reported to the country
office for reacquisition of a specific amount of funds to promote the four components
project run in the Barisal region, including the program delivery cost and administrative
cost. When the country office approves the budget for the month then they made the
payment to bank accounts of regional office. By holding the amounts the regional office
promotes the project in Barisal division. As soon as the regional office gets the fund they
record it in the monthly Receipt & Payment Statement as the opening balance of the
month as well as the sunlight system by specific codes.

Recording of Daily Transactions: The daily transaction of the save the

children are divided in two categories-
Daily disbursement from Patty Cash:
The cash that is disbursed daily by the impact area office is classified as patty cash
transaction. The patty cash in this office is the limit of 80,000.00 Tk and the
disbursement limit is Tk. 20,000.00 without any tender or quotation. The voucher,
which is made for the patty cash disbursement is known as PDV (Patty cash
Disbursement Voucher). The recording of patty cash disbursement is also having some
specific codes for specific transactions in recording of sunlight system. If the purchase
is exceed the patty cash disbursement level then it will be approved by the specific
committee forming by the authority.

Daily disbursement by Cheque payment:

The payment /disbursement which is made by the bank cheque is classified as the
cheque disbursement. The impact area office of save the children USA issue cheque
payment for the program delivery expenditure or administrative expenditure. Like as
the patty cash disbursement they use some codes for the different cheque disbursement.
The daily voucher which is made for the cheque disbursement is known as the CDV
(Cheque disbursement voucher). Most of the cases if the amount of payment is exceed
the daily cash disbursement the office use the cheque disbursement policy.

Computerized and Manual Recording:

Computerized and manual recording are act side by side in Save the Children USA. The
entry is made in the computer by using the specific code and besides that they also keep
the record of receipt and payment and also expenditure vouchers manually. The regional
 office sends these two categories of materials to the country office and the country office
act with the home office in the same way.
PROCESSING OF TRANSACTIONS
The impact area office of Save the Children USA processes the data in two ways,
computerized and manual system (vouchers). The computerized process work automatically
but the manual process has to update daily. The computerized system is designed in a way by
where if the cash disbursement entries are inputted the report of the monthly transactions
(cash and cheque) will be given in a summarized form.

Manual process :
The manual process is derived by the accounting personals. When the expenditure is
made or identified they record it daily through using the vouchers for specific
expenditure or money receipt. The supporting vouchers will be kept as the record for the
months transactions. It helps the accounts in the preparation of the month’s financial
statement (Monthly Receipt & Payment statement, Expenditure statement etc.).

Processing of Accounting Information

Computerized Manual Data

Data processing Processing

 Code basis Recording.  Recording of Vouchers

 Automatic processing.  Manual processing of
 Summarize Report of transactions.
the month.  Preparation of report
Illustration-2: Processing of accounting information by
the Regional office of Save the Children USA

Computerized Process:
The Computerized process of Save the Children USA is derived by the computer
program. The Sunlight Accounting Program is used by the regional office. An operator is
recognized to record the entry based on some codes for specific transaction. The daily
transactions are input to the program and the programs process it. One can see the
condition of fund inflow and fund outflow at any time of the month. Recording
effectiveness is the prerequisite to record the transactions. At the end of the month the
automatic data processing system of the sunlight program process the data which is input
throughout the month and also gives a report of funds inflow and funds outflow.
FINANCIAL REPORTING
Save the Children USA prepare the annual financial statement at the home office at West Port
USA. The financial reports of the different country offices are collected and interpreted by the
home office. The report of the Impact area office, Barisal is prepared as following.

Reporting By Impact Area Office:

The Impact Area office, Barisal of Save the Children USA prepares the report quarterly.
They also prepare the monthly reports and send it to the country office. The monthly
financial reporting consists of-

• Monthly Receipts & Payments Statement: The monthly Receipt & Payment
Statement shows the opening balance at bank, disbursement during the month,
fund received from SCF, adjustment and closing balance of the month. The cash
breakdown also analyze in the second part. The signature of the person who made
it, who reviewed it and who has approved it is attached in the last part of the
report. This is shown in the specimen-1 on the following page.

• Monthly Expenditure Statement: The Monthly Expenditure Statement

interprets the monthly project wise expenditure and balances at the end of the
month. It contains Project Name, approved budget, fund received, expenditure,
receipt balance and budget balances. Like as the monthly Receipts & Payments
statement it also contains signature of the persons who made it, who reviewed it
and who has approved it, is attached in the last part of the report. This is shown in
the specimen-2 on the following pages.

• Statement Prepared by the Sunlight Accounting program: The Sunlight

program also presents a report at the end of the month. When the entry made daily
the automatic data processing system of this program process the data which is
input in it and prepare a report identifying the voucher code and detailed
description of the transactions. This report contained the period of the report, LCL
limit, accounts code, and detailed description of the transactions. This report also
converts the currency of Bangladesh to US dollars ($). This is shown on the
following pages as Specimen-3.

Reporting By Country Office: The regional office sends their monthly and
quarterly report to the country office. The country office use SUN Accounting software
and they made the entry received from the regional offices. The Sun system designed in
such way by which all data are available in the internet. The World Wide Web (WWW)
system delivered this data to the home office. The home office department of Accounts
and Finance can see the financial condition of save the children, Bangladesh country
office through searching the website. The country office also sends the bill and vouchers
manually to the home office for legal proceedings. The country office also sends the
annual and quarterly report to the home office.
 • Reporting By the Home Office: The home office of Save the Children USA
at West Port USA prepares the annual financial statement for mass publications. They get
the report from all of their country offices and process the reports to prepare the yearly
report. They prepare the report by using the automatic data processing system.

The accounting process (Financing and Reporting) of Save the Children

USA is shown below at a glance:

Report sends from Home office to

Donor Agencies

Reacquisition of funds by country Report sends from Country office to

office from home office Home office

Reacquisition of funds by Regional Report sends from Regional office to

office to country office Country office

Reacquisition of funds by district Report sends from district office to

office to Regional office Regional office

Reacquisition of funds by Upazila Report sends from upazila office to

office to district office district office

Illustration-3: The accounting (Reporting and financing)

Process of Save the Children USA.

Specimen-1: Monthly Receipt & Payment Statement.

Save the Children (USA)

 Bangladesh Field office
Monthly Receipts & Payments

Month : Year: Exchange Rate Tk :

Area : Impact Area Office, Barisal.

Particulars Amount (Tk)

1. Opening balance of the month
2. Fund received from SCF
3. This months disbursement
4. Adjustment
5. Closing balance of the month (1+2+3-
4+/-5)

Break up of fund received from SCF+ Closing balance

break down

Other income of the month:

At bank:

Date Sourc D.D No./cash Amount in At cash:

e taka
DAP
TOTAL
Break down of
cash
1. Net cash in
hand
TOTAL 2. Advance
3. Unadjusted
voucher

TOTAL:

Prepared By: Reviewed By: Approved

By:
Date: Date: Date
 Daily Transactions: The daily transaction of the save the children are divided in
two categories-
Patty Cash Transaction: The cash that is disbursed in daily by the impact area
Office is classified as patty cash transaction. The level of patty cash in this office
is the limit of 80,000.00 Tk and the disbursment limit is Tk. 20,000.00. The
voucher, which is made by the patty cash is known as PDV (Patty cash Disbursement
Voucher). The expenditure
Form Patty cash is also having some specific codes for specific transactions. If the
purchase is not being unable to do under the patty cash transaction then it will be
approved by the specific committee.

Cheque Transaction:

 Processing
 Reporting
 Quarterly Evaluation Meeting
 Annual Reporting By the Home office
 Quarterly Reporting By the country office
FINDINGS
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
 Specimen of the permission and letter of appreciation.
 Sample report Methodology.

Designed By: Group-2(Global Boys)@(BBA)PSTU 11