PROUD TO BELONG TO DEPED FINANCE GROUP

Post date: Mar 24, 2014 12:32:26 AM

By: Cheryl M. Tallorin

Technology has long played a key role in the financial services industry. Through electronic gadgets and equipments, high end technologies and new advancements, it is certain that we are really in modern age. Because of these transformations, Department of Education cannot stand still but lead with these developments.

There are lots of projects and innovations introduced in the past few months. One of which is the Unified Account Code System or UACS that will facilitate the financial reporting and aims for accurate coding that will result to transparency and fair view of organizations’ transactions. These coding system was harmoniously crafted by oversight agencies i.e. Commission of Audit, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance and Bureau of Treasury. Meaning, the Finance Group will prepare only one report to be submitted to the said agencies. It is a mandate that effective January 1, 2014, all regional and division offices including the central office must comply to use the said coding system. There is also the Treasury Single Account or TSA that aims to consolidate and optimize the use of government cash and resources. It will consolidate daily cash, reduce borrowings, and facilitate better cash management and reconciliation of banking and accounting data. It is in preparation of applying the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System or GIFMIS to be launched on October 2015 where DepED is a pilot agency among expending departments. Through GIFMIS, there will be an online approval of invoices and posting to General ledger. The said invoices for payment are flagged based on terms of credit and the Bureau of Treasury will check for cash availability and execute payment that runs through Electronic Fund Transfer or EFT. The payment will update the creditor and clear the outstanding invoice. GIFMIS will provide aged list of creditors and automatically schedule payments based on credit terms. Other scheme that have been launched is the Budget Monitoring System wherein this system was developed using Microsoft Access. It runs on computers with Microsoft Office installed. This small application will help the implementing units, especially, those financial staffs assigned in the preparation of various reports as being required by the oversight agencies. It’s easy to monitor balances of allotments by program/project/activity. The output data that can be generated by the system conformed to the requirements of all implementing units, region and central offices. Segregation by source of allotment and by object of expense are easier this time rather than creating many files linking to each other. Other data can be exported to Excel format in order to analyze, review and manipulate to fit for your needs.

Truly, Department of Education is progressing. I firmly believe that these changes will lead toward a sound and efficient financial management and reporting. It will provide complete, accurate, reliable and timely financial reports which is a basic ingredient in management decision making. It will help us to perform our duties more effectively and timely. With these prospectives, I am proud to belong in DepEd Finance Group.