KARACHI: Steps urged for good financial management
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 19: The controller-general of accounts, Iftikhar Ahmad Khan, has expressed concern over non-inclusion of Town Municipal Administrations accounts into the provincial or district governments accounts.
Mr Khan, who was inaugurating a one-day workshop on “good book-keeping is the main source of effective financial management leading towards good governance,” said his office, in collaboration with the Project Improvement Financial Reporting and Auditing, Islamabad, was striving for the capacity building of the staff of TMAs so that the huge expenditures being made by them be brought to government accounts.
He said the CGAs office was facing a two dimensional transitional phase, transitional activities related to devolution plan at national level and transition of accounting system from the old legacy to New Accounting Model (NAM) under PIFRA.
“The development of district budget under new accounting model is the success of CGAs office where despite capacity deficiencies district government prepared their budgets under new model, he added and pointed out that the PIFRA had plans to connect EDO offices in District and with the main server of the finance department through wide area network connectivity.
Earlier wellcoming the participants of the workshop, including the district Nazims, DCOs, EDOs (F&P), and DAOs A-G Sindh Zulfiqar Ali Kadri disclosed that district account offices at Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Larkana, and Sukkur had been connected with AG Sindh. In these districts, provincial as well as district government expenditures, were being authorized online.
Recalling that a series of workshops were being arranged to train officers and staff of executive district officers finance and planning about new accounting model and new chart of accounts, he stressed for proper maintenance of accounts as good book keeping was the main source of effective financial management leading towards good governance at districts as well as provincial levels.
He also stressed the need of close coordination between district administrations and the district accounts offices for timely release and smooth authorization of expenditure and the need for establishment of internal controls within district governments for transparent payments.
Special secretary finance department Shoaib Siddiqui said that coordination between finance department, district government and AGSS and District Accounts offices was the need of the hour.
The opening ceremony was followed by a panel discussion.
