CHAPTER FOUR: CRITICISMS AND

RECOMMENDATION

Every organisation has its strengths and weaknesses. During our stay in
IME, we were fortunate to go through the accounting department of this
institution where we got to see some of its positive and negative aspects. IME
like any other establishment has some of its strengths and weaknesses which we
shall be discussing in this chapter. Nevertheless, IME was of great training
inspiration to us and in order for this institute to gain greater heights, we
brought out some of its weaknesses and possible solutions that we hope help the
institute. In this light, this chapter will be divided into two sections with one
section being for their weaknesses and the other section for possible solutions.
SECTION 1: CRITICISMS
These are some of the weaknesses of IME we were able to come out with
during our stay at IME;

 Lack of finances

During our stay at IME, we realised there was poor management of

finances since there was shortage of cash at some point of time which affect the
running of activities in the institution such as bills which were being paid late
due to insufficient cash while some were still pending. Also the administrative
staffs were not paid on time and they had no certainty on the date of payment
till cash was available in the coffers of the institution. Teachers on the other
hand could not receive the gross amount of their salaries at the exact time they
needed it, so they received little or part as cash was available.

 Poor methods put in place to recover fees

From our research we found out that students did not pay their fees on time
and it was already close to the end of the academic year and they had already
written their final exams and even came back for reseats bringing us to ask
ourselves if the methods used to recover these fees were quite efficient and at
the end of the day they had all collected moratorium which were granted to
them but they did not honour the dates they were to pay their fees as concluded.

 Accumulation of duties

Here, we realised that the accountant at Akwa did the accounting recording
for the two campuses and had to rely on the accountant at Bonamoussadi to
move with her work. Also it was not easy since she managed the accounting of
the two campuses and in her absence the accounting will remain stagnant.
Sometimes the accountant had to live the Akwa campus to Bonamoussadi
campus for accounting work and there for the she allows the other accounting
work and concentrate on what the chief accountant of the institution tells her.

 Centralisation

Everything is been centralise in the Bonamoussadi campus. It is sometimes

difficult to perform an activity in Akwa because orders and permission comes
from Bonamoussadi and even with the application software for example when
there is a problem with GESTIME we need to call the IT support in
Bonamoussadi to come and solve the problem, since the campuses are not close
to one another we can wait for days before the IT support argent finds times to
come and arrange it. This does not only double the work but it leads to wastage
of time since you have to issue the manual receipts before issuing the
computerised receipt. Also decision comes from the main campuses and any
transactions or activity taken in campus B should have approval from campus
A.

 Poor communication network

The flow of information within the institution was very slow which
hindered the effectiveness of some departments and most of the information
delivered was not on time. There is no communication between the two
campuses since information does not reach or when it reaches the campus B it is
too late. To talk to an administrative staff you need to call him on phone and it
is sometime difficult to get to him or when u get to him it is late this slows the
activities of the other campus and it leads to a wastage of time.
SECTION TWO: RECOMMENDATIONS

These are some of the recommendations we thought could help solve the
problems we discover in IME;

 Stating a threshold of cash balance in till

This is one way to solve the problem of treasury management. By fixing rules
such as implementing lowest and highest amount of money that can be found in
the coffer without any shortage or excess. It will help prevent the issues of bills
not paid at time and can solve the problem of late payment of salaries or even
basic needs of the institution such as fuel for generator of the vehicle. With this
we can be assured that money will not lack in our coffers.

 Ensuring the follow up of fee payment

More infancy should be taken for the payment of fee. Given a moratorium to a
parent after the payment of the first instalment of the fee can be an option but
the best way is to follow up this moratorium closely. Each parent can be
reminded of their engagement to the school and if the dates are not respected
then the institution should take measures to send away the student home so as to
create an alert to the parents. By so doing it will reduce the level of
incompletion of fee at the end of the academic year.

 Adaptation of a Communication System

Adapting a communication system such as a fix phone that can connect

both internal and external, so as to ease the communication network between
the two campuses. By so doing it will reduce expenses and the two campuses
will be interred related. Creating a group mail chat which information
concerning both campuses can be send in and treated.
 Centralisation of the GESTIME Application
The application software GESTIME should be centralise so as for
the two campuses to have information concerning each campuses. By so doing
it will solve the problem of issuing two receipts to a student and wastage of
time. With this fee can be easily managed without any error.
 Decentralisation of the coordination function and employment of
more accountant
By doing this the campuses can be more effective. It will solve the problem of
one person doing many jobs at the same time and they will become more
effective. Decentralising the accounting department and the IT department will
help solve time wastage. More skilled employees could be employed in order to
solve the problem of accumulation of duties which could help ease work for
everyone in this campus. By so doing it will diversify the work and be open to
new ideas which will make grow the institution not only in knowledge but also
in performance
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

In effect the internship carried out in IME enabled us to gain a lot of

knowledge and experience. We did not only meet up our academic obligations
of internship for which this work is written, but we also gain much experience
in the professional field in which we could match our theoretical knowledge we
had gained during the academic year with professional realities in the field.

IME like any other private institution of Higher education has as main
objective, providing quality training to its clients who are students and workers
through its dynamic staff. It is for this reason that IME needs to improve on its
Treasury management so as to maintain the image of the institution. Since a
delay in an activity creates a breach from the goals set to achieve and equally
since the staff makes up the institution in their view of working hand in hand to
attain organisational goals their non-compliance will not be of an advantage to
the institution. The welfare of employees is the welfare of the institution which
reduces inefficiencies and negligence of employees.

It is a tendency to accord more attention to treasury management and

providing necessary support for their proper analysis in IME.

Furthermore, this report is prepared also to help the institution and its
members to effectively and efficiently manage their activities so as to meet their
goals. It is for this reason that we sorted out some critics and recommendations
in which we belief if critically followed, will work for the betterment of IME.
Nevertheless, this work is open to critics and suggestions that can help to
ameliorate it for a better use.