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The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has started a programme to sign public tertiary institutions onto the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).

Currently, public universities conduct financial transactions outside the GIFMIS platform contrary to the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 926).

The Acting Controller and Accountant General, Mr K. K. Bosompem, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that his department was providing technical support to the tertiary institutions to enable them to be on the GIFMIS, which tracks and harmonizes all payments from the Consolidated Fund.

He said the CAGD was also providing them with the guidelines to help the institutions onboard by the end of August 2019.

Mr Bosompem said authorities at the various tertiary institutions were complying with the CAGD towards a successful implementation.

The acting Controller and Accountant General indicated that ministries, departments and agencies (MMDAs) were already on the GIFMIS platform.

He said the successful implementation of the project formed part of the department’s resolve to put all government subvented public institutions on the GIFMIS.

Offence

Mr Bosompem stressed that it was an offence for subvented institutions in the country to continue to undertake any financial transactions outside the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).

“All workers in public universities are to be onboard to avoid sanctions,” he said.

Meeting

Mr Bosompem has already held a sensitisation forum for heads of tertiary institutions, finance officers and accountants to explain the benefits and objectives of GIFMIS to them.

He urged them to disregard the erroneous impression that GIFMIS would deprive them of their internally generated incomes.

He explained that the core objective of GIFMIS was for comprehensiveness and transparency in public financial management, as well as for the promotion of electronic financial transactions as the country moved towards the global trend of paperless financial services and economies.

Tertiary Education Council

The Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), Professor Mohammed Salifu, in his remarks during the forum, said the use of GIFMIS was going to be one of the key issues for auditing and that the challenge was now for all such institutions to do the right thing or face the consequences of the law.

He expressed gratitude to the CAGD for partnering the NCTE and the Ministry of Education to sensitise the institutions to GIFMIS, especially for the finance and treasury officers of the tertiary institutions.

Background

Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) is an integrated computerised financial management system that facilitates budget preparation and execution, accounting and financial reporting; cash management, assets management, human resource and payroll management in the public sector.

It brings all government payments into a centralised location and in most cases make direct transfer of funds to the payee, as the system is linked to the government’s accounts at the Bank of Ghana.

It is part of a wide range of reforms by the government introduced to improve fiscal discipline, contain deficit and eliminate corruption as part of a concerted effort to ensure good governance.

As of March 2018, 156 MDAs, MMDAs and other state agencies had been migrated onto the system.