Public Financial Management
(PFM) Reforms Progress
GATABAZI E. Thomas
Accountant General
22nd November 2006
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Presentation Outlines
1. Reforms Coordination
2. PFM Legal Framework
3. Capacity Building
4. GoR Consolidated Financial
Statements
5. Treasury Management
6. Integrated Financial Management
System (IFMS)
7. PFM Trust Fund
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Reforms Coordination
I.
National PFM reforms Steering
Committee.
II. Technical Secretariat.
III. 5 Sub-committees of the steering
committee.
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Steering Committee
National PFM reforms Steering Committee
re-established (June 2006); members:
MINECOFIN, MINALOC, AOG, RRA, BNR& NTB
Initially Meeting weekly on every Wednesday.
- Mandate:
Monitor & oversee reforms progress.
Produced a 3-yrs PFM action plan
( approved by cabinet on 6/9/2006)
-
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Reforms Coordination..
Technical Secretariat:
Mandate:
–To support the steering committee.
–Lead by a PFM reforms coordinator (
started on 1st Nov), The consultant
works full time.
- The Secretariat will be made up of
focal points from different MINECOFIN
departments.

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Technical Secretariat..
Among the main roles:
 Coordinate, monitor and evaluate and report
to the Steering Committee on the performance
against the PFM reforms Action Plan.
 Prepare agendas and meetings of the
Steering committee.
Once the Secretariat has been established
and is full functioning the Steering committee
will be meeting monthly to review progress.
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Other arrangements proposed:
- 5 Sub-committees:
i. Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations
ii. Integrated Financial Management Systems
(IFMS)/ ICT
iii. Financial Management and Accountability
(Accounting, Auditing & Treasury)
iv. Procurement
v. Planning & Budgeting
-Quarterly meeting with Representatives
from Donors (to start next year)
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PFM Legal Framework




The long waited OBL (for 3yrs) was gazetted
(12th Sept 2006)
Financial Regulations were approved by
Cabinet on 11th Oct 2006, to be gazetted
soon.
Financial Management & Accounting
manuals of policies & procedures have been
produced to be circulated to end users.
Conduct workshops for Senior Budget
Managers/ mid-level officials on OBL & FRs
( mid-Dec, 2006)
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Capacity Building
Training of accountants and internal
auditors
 The objective is to create sustainable
capacity for public accounting and
internal audit in Government
Institutions
 The training of accountants and
internal auditors is carried out in the
framework of the “Rwanda Expertise
Scheme (RES)” - a scheme designed
under HIDA to provide rare and unique
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skills in the economy
Training of accountants and
internal auditors…..



The training is two-fold: short-term (skills
enhancing on Rwanda Public Accounting
System) and long-term (on ACCA)
The ACCA Certification was chosen due to
its presence in Rwanda at SFB and its
global qualification appeal
Started in May 2006 and First set of
professional examinations is December
2006 sitting. {220 are on ACCA part 1}.
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Training of accountants and
internal auditors….


Training is conducted on part time basis
in the evening for those working in
Kigali, to avoid disruption of their daily
work.
For upcountry employees, it is on “Block
Release” a full- week ( 3rd week of each
month)
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2006 accounts consolidation



Objective is to produce the 1st GoR
Consolidated Financial Statements
(2006)
A private firm (PwC) has been
contacted (we got a N/O of the
negotiated contact from WB yesterday).
The firm will support our accountants to:
– Establish opening balances as at 1st
January 2006
– Write books of account for 2006
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2006 accounts consolidation..
To prepare GoR’s consolidated financial
statements as at 31st December 2006to be produced & Submitted to OAG by
31st March 2007.
The expectation is that the Consultancy
produces 2006 statements & leaves
lasting capacity to prepare FSs for
subsequent years.
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Treasury Management
 Cash Management:
− A 3-month cash flow plan was adopted
since 1st Jan 2006, and became
spending limit of the budget agencies.
− Budget agencies have gained pace and
are now used to preparation of quarterly
cash flow plans
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Treasury Management…

Establish Single Treasury Account:
– A system of zero balance drawing
bank accounts is operational and all
government agencies are now using
Zero balance sub accounts.
– All government dormant accounts
from BNR were closed, next phase is
for bank accounts in commercial
banks.
– All districts dormant accounts were
closed.
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Treasury Management…

Debt management system:
– MINECOFIN & BNR debts data base
have been reconciled. (Q1, 2006 → )
– Update the existing database and
conversion to DMFAS ver 5.3
(Q4,2006)
– Train staff on DMFAS ver 5.3 and
initiate consolidation link btn
MINECOFIN& BNR (Q4,2006)
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Integrated Financial Management
System (IFMS)
It is expected that the implementation of the
Smartgov project will in the medium term
transform into an Integrated Financial
Management System (IFMS) model project.
 IFMS will consist of core expenditure
management system (EMS) modules,
including budgeting, accounting and cash
management,

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IFMS….

IFMS will be interfaced with other GoR systems like
revenue, public debt management and payroll.
 Currently:
− BudgetMaster (Budget module) was used to prepare
the 2006 Budget. It is also used for reporting and
monitoring of budget execution since 1st January
2006.
− PublicBooks (Accounting module) is an accounting
system, it needs further development, more system
specifications are being worked on, it is expected to
be available for bookkeeping 2008 transactions.
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PFM Trust Fund
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It is a fund to support PFM activities.
It is administered by the World Bank
through HIDA under (Public Sector
Capacity Building Project - PSCBP)
It will allow for a harmonized financing
approach for PFM reforms
The First PFM Trust Fund Partners
include the EU, DfID and the World
Bank’s PSCBP
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PFM Trust Fund…..
Objective:
The objective of the trust fund is to
support the GoR’s PFM reforms
program
Activities
1) Building sustainable capacity for
public accounting and internal audit
under the Rwanda Expertise Scheme
(RES)
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PFM Trust Fund…..
2) Support Coordination, monitoring and
evaluation of PFM reforms:
The operations of a PFM reforms
secretariat and steering committee
ii. Technical assistance to the annual sector
public expenditure review process;
iii. An annual evaluation of PFM based on
the Public Expenditure and Financial
Accountability (PEFA) Performance
Measurement Framework.
i.
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PFM Trust Fund…..
3)Supporting the development of the
SmartGov system modules through system
development, testing, and training of
responsible staff.
4)Capacity building support for the reform of
the procurement system, through training
and technical assistance.
5)Increasing the capacity of the Office of the
Auditor General through training
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END OF THE PRESENTATION
THANK YOU
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