Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS)

The event, which is a collaboration between the IRC and the Department of Finance, aims to enhance the understanding and compliance of provincial governments, district development authorities, provincial health authorities and suppliers/service providers.

The awareness will also include general tax compliance and the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

Provincial Administrator, Trevor Magei, said the introduction of this new system had exposed the financial abuse that had existed at that time, using the old Provincial Government Accounting System (PGAS), a manual application process.

He stressed that people have the right to question the public service as custodians of public funds.

“Today everything is done online, the system is transparent and protects such abuses, protects fund managers and protects all users and beneficiaries.

This follows the two weeks of training at a workshop held at PNGIPA hall.

The training workshop for provincial government officials was underway for officers from the provincial headquarters, districts and local level government. It was funded by Department of Finance, through the IFMS Project team.

Central Provincial Administrator Gei Guni Raga said this will a major transitional period for the province from the current accounting package, the Papua New Guinea Government Accounting System (PGAS), into the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

This is to improve the quality of cash management and effectiveness of spending.

This follows an assessment by the Department of Finance in 2014 on PNG’s public financial management systems against the internationally recognised Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA).

The Government says the assessment revealed that the use of both the PGAS and IFMS affected the comprehensiveness and quality data in budget execution reports.