The financial management information system of the government was outdated, which resulted in the inability of many ministries to produce annual reports on time.

Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says that the existing payroll system was tailor-made for the government and had been in existence for over 40 years.

He says that through the Asian Development technical assessment, it was decided that a new system is needed.

The finance minister says that they hope the new system will greatly improve internal processes and financial control in the government.

“Once we go live, the new system will bring about greater efficiency in our accounting processes, improve financial reporting, strengthen internal controls and audit trails, and enhance the security of the system, which will also be web-based. Overall, financing processing and reporting will be enhanced with real-time transaction updates, which is useful for management decision-making and policy formulation.”

Prasad says that the new system will go live this August.

“We think that this will create real-time production of accounts, time for audits, and timely presentation of reports to Parliament, as it happens in many other countries. Mr. Speaker said we are also undertaking work to integrate the new FEMIS with the budget and debt management systems”.

The minister says that there was no provision available to upgrade the system previously to meet the accounting needs, which evolved and became complex over time. The training for the new system has concluded, and it is expected to enable the ministry to provide timely reports.