Public Sector Governance and Accountability Series: Budgeting and ...

Strengthening Public Expenditure Management in Africa 415
to be adequately discussed in this volume, but certain considerations are
generally applicable.
Potential and risks
First, ICT is a tool, immensely powerful yet essentially no different from a
photocopier or a bulldozer in the sense that the needs and requirements of
the users must dictate whether and how the ICT tool should be used. For
certain functions, a pencil, a telephone, a face-to-face meeting, or a visit to
the document center is far more effective than computers or the Internet.
This obvious point must be stressed, because governments, consultants, or
donor agencies frequently encourage computerizing anything in sight.
Indeed, some observers have argued that ICT innovation is now largely supply
and marketing driven rather than dictated by the needs and requirements of
the users. Therefore, assessing realistically the costs of a given ICT change
and comparing it with the benefits expected are essential.
Second, neither the ICT “techie” nor the budget manager should work
in isolation from each other. As noted, improvements in effectiveness stem
largely from better rules and organization in the entity concerned. On the
one hand, to apply advanced ICT to obsolete or inefficient rules and
processes means in effect to computerize inefficiency. Doing the wrong thing
faster is not progress. On the other hand, the absence of technical ICT competence
risks either costly mistakes or missed opportunities for dramatic
service improvements.
Third, ICT cannot substitute for good management and internal controls.
Indeed, the introduction of computers can give a false illusion of tighter
expenditure control in cases where a large part of the expenditure cycle
occurs in parallel outside the computerized system.
Fourth, faster and integrated public financial management information
systems carry correspondingly greater potential risks for the integrity
of the data and can even jeopardize the financial management system in its
entirety if developed carelessly and without sufficient checks, controls,
security, and virus protection. Indeed, the first advice to an African government
moving from a partly manual public accounting and recording
system to a fully computerized one should be to keep the manual ledgers
going alongside the new system until the new system is working well and is
secure and free of risk.
Fifth, ICT can substantially reduce corruption. Nevertheless, although
computer technology does eliminate almost all opportunities for corruption
for those who do not understand fully the new technology, it also opens up
new corruption vistas for those who understand the new systems well