managing public sector records: a study programme - International ...

disbursement of public funds. The requirements of financial reporting at the outlying
districts for statutory or regulatory purposes cannot be met.
Managing financial records throughout their useful life should be a key issue
government-wide. The importance of financial records systematically and structuring
them intelligently in relation to business processes has not been clearly understood.
As part of economic policy and institutional reforms financial management business
processes have been structured in order to strengthen the processes of financial
management. Yet, there has not been a corresponding review of the information
flows and the records keeping system.
WEAK RECORDS KEEPING INFRASTRUCTURE: Storage conditions are
unsuitable and there is little planned disposition. A general disposal schedule was
issued in 1996 and yet there has not been training of accounting staff who have
custody of financial and accounting records in its use. At any rate, the General
Schedule applies only to the financial records held in agency financial units. Its
coverage is therefore limited and does not encompass financial records created in the
course of executing the substantive functions of the central administration of finance.
Thus financial records remain buried and inaccessible. For example, two huge
cupboards in the Budget Division Secretariat are full to the brim with financial
records. Nobody in the Secretariat remembers when there was a planned transfer of
records out of the Division. Thus vast quantities of inactive records clog up valuable
space making it impossible to retrieve any documents.
RECORD KEEPING MYTHS: There is a belief that the more complicated a
procedure, and the more document created and maintained, the greater the security
against fraud. On the contrary, the clogged filing cabinets are highly conducive to
irregularity of every kind. Defining and simplifying procedures, reducing the paper
generated and planning the records systems with an end result clearly in mind will
provide substantial economies, create fewer but better records and promote
accountability. If effectively managed as an integral part of the functional processes
of financial management, financial records will provide a meaningful resource to the
management of the Consolidated Fund.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS AND RECORD KEEPING
Poorly planned and executed information technology applications have been behind
many of the problems. The introduction of computer technology in the public sector
of Ghana is closely associated with policy based lending activities in the early 1980s.
Computers were introduced in the central administration of finance as part of donor
assistance to help enhance control over the machinery of public financial management
and to improve efficiency.
The Integrated Personnel Payroll Database (IPPD) project is the largest and most
complex information technology project in Ghana. The database combines
information about public sector staff salaries and personnel data as a basis for payroll
function for the public service. However, its objective of minimising the use of