Government of Afghanistan Receives FreeBalance Public Financial Management Award of Excellence for Capacity Building

Recognition for government financial capacity building presented at FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC) event in Turkey

Ottawa, Canada (January 20, 2012) – FreeBalance, a leading vendor of Government Resource Planning (GRP) software, is pleased to announce the presentation of the FreeBalance Public Financial Management Award of Excellence to the Government of Afghanistan for Government Capacity Building. FreeBalance Awards of Excellence were presented at the FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC) event held between January 16-18, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Capacity building and training is crucial to realize the benefits of GRP and improve governance,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has made remarkable progress in the Ministry of Finance and beyond to train public servants in government financial management. This progress is the kind of good news that the international community needs to hear.”

The Treasury Department of the Afghanistan Ministry of Finance has received international recognition for success in implementing and sustaining a Financial Management Information System (FMIS) in the context of a fragile state. Over 600 public servants have been certified to operate the Afghanistan Financial Management Information System (AFMIS), a configuration of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite. The Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment from May 2008 recognized that “in relation to other countries for which PEFA assessments, have been conducted, Afghanistan’s ratings are better than the average for other low-income developing countries and in some areas better than the average for middle-income countries.”

AFMIS was deployed by the Treasury Department to all Mustofiats (provincial finance office) without the assistance of outside help, reflecting the capacity improvements by the government. Currently all provincial Mustofiats process all operating budget checks after posting the expense vouchers to the central AFMIS database in Kabul allowing real-time controls for all payment transactions. Other achievements highlighted in a case study include the support of international public sector standards, the management of 99% of the government budget and clearing 90% of revenue on a daily basis. The government produces timely financial statements and all transactions can be audited.

About the FreeBalance Public Financial Mangement Awards of Excellence
FreeBalance recognize government customers who have achieved significant improvements in Public Financial Management (PFM). Presented every two years at the FreeBalance International Steering Committee meetings, the awards recognize important governance milestones.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance is a recognized as leader in fast, adaptable and successful GRP implementations. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000, and a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide. FreeBalance provides software solutions for public financial and human resource management, and supports reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

About FISC
The annual FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC) conference runs from January 16 – 18, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. FISC provides an interactive forum to exchange Public Financial Management (PFM) good practices among international customers and PFM thought leaders. FISC drives the FreeBalance Accountability Suite Government Resource Planning (GRP) product direction. Previous FISC events were held in Madeira, Portugal (2011); Mt. Tremblant, Canada (2010); Prague, Czech Republic (2009); Cascais, Portugal (2008); and London, United Kingdom (2007).

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