PSIP PROJECT FINANCIAL MAGAMENT INFORMATION EXPERIENCE AND LESSONS LEARNT Emmanuel Banda/ John Funny Mwale- Economist Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture

INTRODUCTION Tourism and Culture has 17 Project in PSIP database 10 projects were provided for in Budget Very few enjoyed good flow of funds. Ministry has an M&E System in place as it is very important in providing timely feedback. Hence conducts quarterly M&E The M&E system checks both physical and budget (financial) performance of projects and programmes  Very difficult to get financial performance information  Expenditure not aligned to planned activities leading to little progress in project implementation  Unexplained expenditure at times due poor record keeping

PROJECT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION PILOT How did we choose the project to use the Project Financial Management Information Tool? Any issues found in using the Project Financial Management Information Tool? The future use of the Project Financial Management Information Tool The usefulness and purpose of this Project Financial Management Information Tool

How did we choose the project to use the Project Financial Management Information Tool? The Ministry chose one project and formed a project team from the Planning, Accounts and Internal Audit sections. Keys issues considered;  Project in PSIP data base  Project well provided for in Annual Budget  Project enjoyed good flow of funding hence good progress in implementation  Project uses Government Financial Management System Key issues in formulation of project team  Considered areas of focus e.g project design, accounting and financial controls  Project comprised One Economist, One Accountant and One Auditor

Any issues found in using the Project Financial Management Information Tool? The tool brought about enhanced coordination among Planning, Accounting and Internal Audit Sections This improved generation of reports including M&E, Financial and Audit reports. (IFMIS doesn’t provide reports by outcome, outputs and activity hence very difficult to link expenditure to particular targets) Improved coding of project expenditure hence providing proper description in project expenditure. The tool unearthed some serious anomalies in expenditure-over expenditure

The future use of the Project Financial Management Information Tool Ministry plans to extend use of tool to all projects  Ease progress reporting  Increase working collaboration among various sections with aim of improving implementation of projects and programmes  Improve accountability and timeliness of reporting

The usefulness and purpose of this Project Financial Management Information Tool Tool very beneficial  improved recording and processing of financial transactions leading to prompt and efficient access to reliable financial data-timely reporting  Enhanced transparency and accountability  strengthened financial controls with a full and updated picture of commitments and expenditure of project funds.  Ease evaluation of physical and budget project performance The Project Financial Management Information Tool will help ensure that reliable and timely revenue (Funding) and expenditure data is available for budget planning, monitoring, expenditure control, and reporting.

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