Existing Process

After the ratification of budget, a Government’s Centralised Budgeting process requires allocated budget funds to be available during the active year to release by accounts payable for payment of invoices. Changes to funds available can be made through virements from a Ministry/Department or re-allocation within a Ministry/Department. The process to manage funds this way requires up to date spending against budget for the Ministry/Department General Ledger account and relevant authorised paperwork and workflow to ensure accuracy and appropriateness.

Problem

This transfer process relies on Governments having accurate, accessible data and timely workflow of relevant paperwork, which otherwise can delay the transfer. Delays can be extensive and prone to human error, contributing to auditability and data integrity issues. The process is inefficient and problematic for the management of a budget of 40 Billion USD in 96 Ministries, all of whom use Isidore CBMS.

Solution

Isidore has streamlined the Treasury and funding areas of Government, through full integration with the Epicor Financial Management System. A Treasury Management function has been built in to Epicor to assist with the management of Budget funds allocated within a month, and determine the amount of funds which can be utilised by Ministries/Departments. Isidore manages the process from the budget system utilising live budget detail and live actuals from Epicor 10.

Result

The process now commences with the budget system (Isidore) which allows the budget team to assess the funds available for a Ministry/Department at the Account Code level before commencing the transfer. As Isidore has a live integration with Epicor, the budget team knows the exact funds available at the time they check. Once funds are confirmed the relevant paperwork and workflow process can commence within Isidore to capture information online for greater ease of use, accessibility and auditability. On release of funds within Isidore the relevant journals are instantly pushed through to Epicor for release.

This process is an example of seamless integration between the Budget system and the FMIS which also includes other functions such as the flow of HR data and management of expenditure ceilings. Isidore streamlines the entire Centralised Budgeting process, from the setting of the resource envelope (macro fiscal framework), allocation of ceilings to Ministries/Departments, budget estimates and input, workflow approval of budget iterations, budget papers and submission to Parliament and through to this budget execution phase. Cash flow forecasting has also been included to round off all budget management functions.

For more information and detail about Program based budgeting contact Isidore. This is an example of the work we do in using the systems we have and enhancing them for a particular client and use, which can be used as is, or with any amount of customisation to the existing software and modules.

Isidore can assist with Epicor, Isidore CBMS and other FMIS or business related software.