An Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) or Government Resource Planning (GRP) “can enable prompt and efficient access to reliable financial data and help strengthen government financial controls, improving the provision of government services, raising the budget process to higher levels of transparency and accountability, and expediting government operations.”
FreeBalance is recognized as a major provider of Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS) for Governments
- Recognized as one of the three major global vendors of COTS government IFMIS
- Recognized as one of six vendors COTS government IFMIS in Africa
- “the introduction of a FMIS (FreeBalance) as experienced in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone” enabled these countries to be recognized as achieving substantial Public Fiancial Management (PFM) reform
- “FreeBalance eFinancials, which had been used with success in other war-torn environments—including Kosovo, East Timor and Afghanistan.”
- “systems designed specifically for the public sector are available, for example, FreeBalance that is being implemented in Sierra Leone and the southern region of Sudan. Such systems are more robust and there is no risk of additional costs associated with customization when future upgrades are being implemented.”
FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC)
FreeBalance government customers from countries such as Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mongolia, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste and Uganda meet yearly. The purpose of FISC is to share lessons learned and adapt the FreeBalance product roadmap to better meet government reform needs. Country representative provide updates in confidential presentations. Some achievements described as bullet points from these presentations include:
Fiscal Controls
- Efficient budget control and execution
- Automated budget controls
- Better budget control
- Improved salary controls
- More than 99% of the government’s budget execution is captured on real-time basis
- Strengthened commitment controls in the budget management.
Decentralization
- Decentralisation of commitments and revenues countrywide
- National roll-out to all budget entities at all levels of government
- Decentralization of performance budgeting functions
- Decentralization so that Treasury now focused on strategic issues and cash management
Timeliness and Accuracy
- Clearance of all backlog of annual financial statements
- Timely and accurate fiscal reporting
- For two past years we have submitted on time audited budget statements to the National Assembly
- Accountability and accuracy in the financial management has improved
- Timely Preparation of Annual Accounts
- Unqualified audit report of Government financial statements
- Timely production of reports that support GFS and IPSAS cash-basis
- Timely clearance of revenue and expenditures
Reporting and Decision Making
- Availability of useful reports for management decision-making
- Help achieve fiscal surplus
- Adoption of the Cash Basis IPSAS
- Reliable Management Reporting in real-time mode applying modern information technologies
- Increase in quality of decisions
- Dashboards improve government performance
- Automatic generation of budget books
Security Controls and Audit
- Improved security and availability of complete audit trail
- Automated audit trials and security controls
- Proper Segregation of duties
- Auditability and transparency of budget adjustments
Efficiency
- Efficient for cash management
- Time and cost saving
- Reduction in processing time
- Reduction in labor costs on management of civil service personnel
- Increase in labor productivity of civil servants
Trust
- Donor trust – World Bank, ADB, and other donor funds are channeled through the Treasury
- Improvement in PEFA assessment
- We have 2 PEFA Assessment, the second showing improvements
- Open budget index scores have improved
- Supports anit-corruption efforts
- Reduction in supplemental budgets
- Improved budget credibility
- 40% of aid received from IFI’s and donors, is spent using country systems
- Visibility to the public via a web publishing capability
- promote credibility, control and transparency of fiscal and budget management
Additional Country Examples
FreeBalance and the FreeBalance Accountability Suite have been recognized as key to many PFM successes round the world.
Afghanistan
- Assists General PFM Success: “In public sector management and governance, the greatest progress has been made in public finance management (PFM), including revenue mobilization and other budgetary trends as well as major improvements in the whole range of PFM processes and systems.”
- Rapid Implementation: “The first check (for payment disbursement) from the system was issued in October 2002, two months after the start of the project.”
- Enables Timely Reporting: “The computerized Afghanistan Financial Management Information System (AFMIS) enables the Ministry of Finance to produce monthly reports (which are put on their website) within a month.” and “Bank reconciliations are completed monthly within 25 days after end of the month and monthly treasury reports are published in treasury website without any delay.”
- Improves Controls: “Budget execution and fiduciary controls have been enhanced with the implementation of the centralized and computerized Afghanistan Financial Management Information Systems (AFMIS) that permits real‐time reporting of expenditures, allowing weekly reporting on budget expenditures from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to the Cabinet. These developments have contributed to increasing the implementation ratio of the budget and raising fiduciary standards”
- Fuels Sustainable Reform: “The AFMIS remains a key component of the authorities’ PFM reform agenda, and its successful implementation has also benefited from complementary reforms in core financial management functions.”
- Enables Fiscal Decentralization: As at the end of first quarter, Afghanistan Financial Management Information System (AFMIS) has been rolled out to all budgetary entities and all provinces. Verified Payroll Program has covered 460,000 government employees, of whom 270,000 receive their payments through direct deposit in their bank accounts.” and “AFMIS is an example in Afghanistan of rolling out reforms to subnational levels of government in a formally centralized state. The AFMIS rollout to regions was completed by 2010 despite ongoing security challenges.”
Antigua and Barbuda
- Enables Transparency: “acquisition of the FreeBalance Financial Accountability programme, which is an integrated financial and inventory management system, represents a key investment in the development of a modern and transparent financial management system. “It facilitates the integration of financial management services and delivers the capability for recording expenditures electronically. It produces cheques and receipts and generates disbursement reports.”
- Improves Budget Execution and Timeliness: “It is thus foreseen to develop and implement improvements in the cash based release system to obtain better predictability for spending units; to expand the coverage of direct links to the Free Balance system in order to assure strict commitment control and to institute timely, monthly expenditure reporting fully reconciled with bank balances”
- Improves Government Efficiency: “New (FreeBalance) software will improve govt’s efficiency”
- Enables Sustainable Public Financial Management Reform: “We expect to achieve these outcomes through the continued implementation of key expenditure management programmes – particularly the FreeBalance system and the Human Capital Accountability Programme (HCAP).”
Kosovo
- Rapid Implementation “FMIS – 1 month to implement” and “26 days later FreeBalance Foundation installed – original configuration – six months of data captured – reports to CFA and donors” and “The implementation of an operational Treasury system within a relatively short time limit is an important achievement. “
- Improves Financial Controls: “Positive findings in relation to the enhancements to the Freebalance system controls were noted. The OAG observed that many issues raised in its 2005 Audit Report were resolved. It is noteworthy that the OAG recognizes that the controls in the Freebalance system now provide reasonable assurance of the integrity of the data produced from the government’s accounting and management system.” and “Public spending is under better control, thanks to the introduction of the FreeBalance system, which increases cash flow control and consistency of financial reporting through permanent access to financial data between the treasury and all budgetary spending levels.” and “robust efforts in Kosovo focused on strengthening internal controls and external audit have shown effects in terms of improving perceived overall control of corruption .”
- Enables Fiscal Transparency: “Kosovo Financial Management Information System (KFMIS) – Decentralization of Freebalance was completed in 2006 through implementation of the system in 60 central budget organizations. The Purchase module was newly implemented in all central budget organizations and municipalities, and significantly contributed to gaining control over the commitment process associated with procurement. All budget organizations are now using the system to manage their expenditure commitments, to carry out procurement and to manage their assets.” and “The quality of Treasury reporting has enabled complex strategic fiscal planning (i.e. MTEF) that is based on detailed current and historical fiscal analysis. Moreover, improvements in Treasury reporting have increased the level of public debate on fiscal issues, including within politics and media”
- Enables Timely Reporting: “The greatest strength of the Kosovo PFM is its treasury system; not because of its sophistication in terms of functionality or its classification system, but simply because it is comprehensive and is able to produce timely and reasonable analytical reports.” and “KFMIS introduced in 2000 using FreeBalance software and ‘Go live’ from 2001. Cash-based accounting system from 2004. Supported production of regular, timely, comprehensive, and accurate in-year and annual financial reporting. ”
- Enables Timely and Accurate Reporting: “Supported production of regular, timely, comprehensive, and accurate in-year and annual financial reporting.”
- Enables International Reporting Standards: “Improvement in reports by structure of the budget and present fund balance commitment for each economic category and budgetary organization. All reports are presented in compliance with IPSAS.”
- Improves Transparency and Decision Making: “Kosovo now has a comprehensive, uniform financial management system, based on the FreeBalance platform. It is “comprehensive” in the sense that the system enables a wide range of financial management elements (i.e. from revenue to assets) and that data from all institutions is in the system. All budget organizations and all major revenue agencies are now connected to the system and are using FreeBalance to record all transactions. In this sense, the system has become a “one-stop shop” for fiscal information. The system is “uniform” in that it now enables comparison of accounting data at all levels of government and between all institutions. The financial management system is also a “real time” system. In effect, this means that the tools are in place for best practice in financial management and that there is real transparency—which, for example, enables meaningful external auditing of budget organizations to commence.”
- Enables Fiscal Decentralization: “Kosovo Financial Management Information System (KFMIS) – Decentralization of Freebalance was completed in 2006 through implementation of the system in 60 central budget organizations. The Purchase modul
e was newly implemented in all central budget organizations and municipalities, and significantly contributed to gaining control over the commitment process associated with procurement. All budget organizations are now using the system to manage their expenditure commitments, to carry out procurement and to manage their assets.”
Liberia
- Rapid Implementation: “for example, the introduction of the Free Balance-based FMIS seems to have picked up faster than has been the case in many other countries.”
- Enables Transparency and Public Trust: “advancing key governance reform initiatives in support of its reconstruction efforts,” he said. “The FreeBalance Accountability Suite will serve as a tool to support reform initiatives and will provide the foundation for economic growth and transparency. “By building a more transparent Government, public trust in the Government of Liberia will only increase.” He said Budget preparation, expenditure controls, procurement, monitoring, reporting, payroll and human resource management would all be implemented.”
- Enables Transparency and Efficiency: “the country can now stand shoulder to shoulder with other countries far and near by boasting of efficient and transparent budget management.”
- Facilities Accountability: “Facilitates move towards Output Oriented Budgeting /Program Based Budgeting, Increased Accountability and Transparency”
- Improves Financial Controls: “Improved Oversight and Internal Control, Better Cash Management, Better Commitment and expenditure control, More efficient and timely transaction processing, and Automated posting to ledgers.”
Sierra Leone
- Improves Controls to Manage Spending: “helped to strengthen budget control by restricting spending in excess of quarterly budget allocations”
- Improves Controls and Transparency: “designed to provide up-to-date and accurate information, tighten internal financial controls, and strengthen accountability and transparency by enabling financial information to be viewed at many points.” and “Improved controls over operation, Effective and efficient budgetary and expenditure controls (requires discipline)” and “Stringent and Inherent security controls, Quick Access to Information – dissemination of user friendly management reports, Audit Trail”
- Supports Anti-Corruption Efforts: “Increased ‘Public Value’ of information, Timely, accurate, trustworthy, relevant and customised reports, Improved transparency and accountability…– A key weapon in the war against corruption and poverty as the availability”
- Improves Efficiency: “Savings: Excess staff time saved as a result of integration could be utilised for other activities, Reduction in staff cost”
Timor Leste
- Enables Transparency and Accountability: “IFMIS project will contribute with greater government efficiency, accountability and transparency, that will translate into social programs being more responsive to poverty reduction and other social needs.” and “ The government’s budget is online for all to see and the annual parliamentary discussion of the national budget is broadcast live on TV. Anyone can see how much revenue is coming in and where it is going by logging onto http://www.transparency.gov.tl/. There is hardly anything like that anywhere in Asia.” and “the transparency portal is part of government’s drive to increase transparency and accountability in public finances.“The initiative came from the Ministry of Finance, for us to have a better mechanism to educate our civil society on public financial management,” she said. She adds that prior to the launch of the website, the Timor Leste government had no way to inform its constituents on how public funds are being spent.”
- Improves Economic Development: “The e-Procurement Portal promotes economic development, since it increases the suppliers’ participation. All tender opportunities will be listed in a single place, guaranteeing to the suppliers a just and transparent bidding for Government proposals.”
- Improves Public Trust: “Portal eProcurement procurement process, improving transparency by publishing the criteria for selection of procurement and the creation of a precise audit trail. The level of trust from citizens, NGOs, and donor confidence in the government will improve if everyone can see who buys what was purchased, which was awarded the contract , and at what price the government paid. ”
- Supports Peace and Stability: “Information on Timor-Leste’s budget is also now provided on a near real-time basis by the world-class transparency portal. The essential underpinnings of a modern state – credibility and trust – have been strengthened by the Timorese’s assertive efforts to meet the needs of the people. Timor-Leste is now investing in peace and stability.”
FreeBalance Has Received Awards and Certifications
- FreeBalance President & CEO Manuel Pietra Wins OCRI Next Generation Executive Award
- EDC + Profit Magazine Export Award
- FreeBalance Achieves ISO 9001:2000 Certification