FreeBalance Modernizing public financial management.

Products

The FreeBalance® Accountability Suite™
Classic Version

The Classic version of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite is a client-server based Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). FreeBalance Classic software supports all aspects of the budget cycle and provides fiscal control over fund allocations, expenditures, appropriations, revenue administration, and human capital management.

FreeBalance Classic software is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution. The following modules comprise the FreeBalance Accountability Suite Classic version:

Supported Standards

  • World Bank Treasury Reference Model (TRM)
  • IMF Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency
  • United Nations Common Functions of Government (COFOG)
  • IMF Government Finance Statistics (GFS)
  • International Federation of Accountants International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs)
  • Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEF)
  • Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

FreeBalance Financials - the Core Module

Government commitment accounting requires numerous control mechanisms between budget approval and completion of fiscal transactions. FreeBalance Financials provides the foundation for public financial management. It is designed in accordance with international fiscal management standards, IMF classification structures and the World Bank Treasury Reference Model.

FreeBalance Financials provides a common repository for all financial data and enables data audit management and reporting on multiple levels, flexible Chart of Accounts (COA) and financial coding blocks, and double-entry self-balancing fund controls.

FreeBalance Financials Highlights

  • General Ledger(GL) - provides a central repository for all transactions and generates multi-dimensional analysis reports .
  • Controls - provides aggregate fiscal control of approved budgetary funds.
    1. Allotment Controls (2 levels) - approved appropriations, warrants or allocations are mapped to the COA and specific fiscal periods for granular control.
    2. Commitment Controls - soft commitments (intention to spend)
    3. Obligation Controls - hard commitments (contractual obligations)
    4. Multi-Funds and Project Controls - projects and programs are linked to fund sources, including specific revenue sources or donors
  • Appropriations - Appropriations (AR) provides real-time information on commitments, obligations, actual spending, remaining free balances and forecasted deficits or surpluses.
  • Expenditures - Expenditures (AP) tracks expenses against commitments and obligations and provides real-time analysis of current cash flow and payments, including foreign currency transactions.

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FreeBalance Purchasing

The FreeBalance Purchasing module provides an integrated procurement process. It manages multi-item requisitions and purchases and the receiving process. FreeBalance Purchasing operates under both cash and accrual accounting. FreeBalance Purchasing provides an extensive range of fiscal controls.

FreeBalance Purchasing Highlights

  • Aggregate Fiscal Controls - provide a wide range of expenditure controls on purchasing. The FreeBalance Purchasing module integrates with Controls in FreeBalance Financials.
  • Expenditure Management - flexible expenditure management options for hard limits, percentage limits, budget, and waiver ceilings. Obligations are automatically created for purchase orders and liquidated as goods are received and paid. The FreeBalance Purchasing module integrates with Expenditures in FreeBalance Financials.
  • Purchase Orders (PO) and Purchasing - track multiple shipments against single purchase orders or single shipment against multiple purchase orders. FreeBalance Purchasing supports both centralized and distributed purchasing assignments, purchase approvals, acceptance, complex payments and goods returned.

The FreeBalance Purchasing module can be added and integrated with FreeBalance Financials during any stage of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) implementation process.

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FreeBalance Revenue

The FreeBalance Revenue module manages revenue collection, including accounts receivable (AR) billing and collection of cash receipts and government sales. It has a powerful billing system for tracking amounts owed to the government in real-time.

FreeBalance Revenue Highlights

  • Billing System - simplifies billing processes and improves overall efficiency by creating and maintaining accurate and detailed invoices and reports.
  • Cash Collection System - records and tracks all cash sales, sales vouchers, debit notes, credit notes and cash receipts transactions, and provides automatic management of aging, overdue and delinquent accounts.
  • Integration with Taxation and Customs - FreeBalance Revenue integrates with third party electronic government taxation and customs management systems such as ASYCUDA, which is distributed by the United Nations.

The FreeBalance Revenue module can be added and integrated with FreeBalance Financials during any stage of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) implementation process.

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FreeBalance Assets

The FreeBalance Assets module provides management of public assets and real-time information on purchases, asset sales, maintenance, operation, and disposal of assets. FreeBalance Assets supports fixed asset accounting, depreciation and inventory stores, consistent with the move to accrual accounting. It enables governments to accurately manage a wide range of variables, including renewal of service contracts, insurance policies, warranty periods, software licensing and services rendered.

FreeBalance Assets Highlights

  • Monitoring - FreeBalance Assets monitors (audits) modifications to asset records and manages asset items in accordance with service contracts, insurance policies, guarantee periods, software licensing or services equipment. The module provides automatic item depreciation calculations and support for optical bar code readers.
  • Value of Public Assets - FreeBalance Assets helps governments identify the true value of public assets, a requirement for transitioning to accrual accounting.
  • Templates - data entry is simplified with customizable templates and tables.
  • Inventory (Optional) - an optional inventory component is also available.

The FreeBalance Assets module can be added and integrated with FreeBalance Financials during any stage of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) implementation process.

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FreeBalance Treasury

The FreeBalance Treasury module manages cash, investments, debt and banking. FreeBalance Treasury harmonizes treasury operations across all levels of government and mitigates fiscal risk.

FreeBalance Treasury Highlights

  • Bank Integration - supports Treasury Single Account (TSA) with details of virtual accounts or multiple bank accounts, provides facility to create and close bank accounts, foreign exchange management and bank accounts in foreign currencies.
  • Bank Reconciliation - provides manual or automatic bank reconciliation, accepts banking information for deposits, issued cheques and adjustments, reports suspected out of balance transactions.
  • Cash Management - supports of multi-fund accounting and cash requirements forecasts and reporting.
  • Debt Management - provides integration with standard debt management software and secure encrypted reporting to donors.

The FreeBalance Treasury module is tightly integrated with FreeBalance Financials. The Treasury module can be added during any stage of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) implementation process.

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FreeBalance Performance Budgeting

FreeBalance Performance Budgeting is a web-based application for budget planning and budget execution. FreeBalance Performance Budgeting enables multiple departments and agencies to plan, analyze and coordinate government performance targets and budget transfers, and create credible budgets and medium term expenditure frameworks (MTEF) that reflect national policies and priorities.

FreeBalance Performance Budgeting can be used as a stand-alone application or as part of the suite at any level of government. It is a comprehensive program for budget preparation, budget execution, review and approval, forecasting and reporting. Effective integrated budget preparation ensures that the budget plan is consistent, reflects past experience and generates aggregate budget controls for budget execution.

FreeBalance Performance Budgeting Highlights

  • Budget Planning - preparation of budget plans, iterative budget plan creation via budget versioning, budget justification, summary, reviews and approval of budget plans and budget ceilings (controls). The module enables multiple-step budget preparation and collaborative planning and multiple scenarios testing.
  • Budget Approval - Each budget version can be approved individually, or integrated into a single or multiple budget version groups for approval. The final version of the approved budget is used to establish the allocation and control.
  • Budget Execution - during the fiscal year, the module transfers the approved budget for budget execution, forecasts budget variances and synchronizes budget transfers, virements, revenues, operating expenses and commitments, budget allocation and distribution, changes to controls and budget adjustments.
  • Spreadsheet Style Interface - simplifies financial analysis, capability to export budgets and reports to various file formats, including Microsoft Excel, XML and text.

The FreeBalance Performance Budgeting module can be added and integrated with FreeBalance Financials during any stage of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) implementation process and tightly integrated with other modules to maintain Charts of Accounts (COA) and data integrity.

FreeBalance Performance Budgeting as Stand-alone Application

FreeBalance Performance Budgeting can also be used as a stand-alone application outside of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite. As a stand-alone application, it provides decentralized access to people in different government departments working on different budget cycle stages. FreeBalance Performance Budgeting can be integrated with any third party Financial Management Information System (FMIS).

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FreeBalance Performance Procurement

FreeBalance Performance Procurement is a web-based purchasing and procurement application designed for government organizations. FreeBalance Performance Procurement provides adaptable workflow to conform to the entire budget and procurement cycle.

FreeBalance Performance Procurement is highly configurable end-to-end front and back office purchasing, proposal management, procurement, contract management and goods and services receipt software. FreeBalance Performance Procurement integrates with budgets, appropriations and commitments to ensure that expenditures and planned expenditures meet budget regulations.

Leveraging the FreeBalance Accountability Platform ensures procurement performance management, accountability and transparency, improves efficiencies and increases business accessibility through configurable workflow, business rules, document assembly and integration. Mundane tasks are automated to allow purchasing managers to focus on high value work such as ensuring vendor best value. Reusable procurement components enable governments to deploy procurement functionality in a stepped modular fashion that adheres to process and approval rules.

FreeBalance Performance Procurement Highlights

  • Procurement Solicitation - enables creating tender, integrating with financial management system for commitment, and supporting different workflows depending on purchasing vehicle and estimated tender amount.
  • Vendor and Catalogue Management - supports simple to complex procurement, review, assessment, purchase order and obligation.
  • Receiving and Contract Management - supports goods and services receipt, integration with asset and inventory system, and complex payment methods.

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FreeBalance Human Capital

The FreeBalance Human Capital module provides integrated management of payroll and human resources for government. The module is a fully integrated human resources information management (HRIS) and payroll system designed to streamline civil service administration.

FreeBalance Human Capital Highlights

  • Government Payroll - standardized payroll, taking into consideration any applicable collective agreements in force and employee benefits such as health insurance. The module supports several modes of payments, from electronic funds transfers (EFT), to cheque production and bank vouchers.
  • Human Resources (integrated HRMIS) - recruitment management, training, personnel management, pension administration, and succession planning for every employee in the public sector.
  • Web-based Applications - recruitment and civil service management available as web-based sub-modules for ease of deployment and accessibility.

The FreeBalance Human Capital module can operate standalone or be added and integrated with FreeBalance Financials during any stage of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) implementation process.

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FreeBalance Performance Granting

FreeBalance Performance Granting is a web-based application that enables governments to manage grants for businesses and individuals. FreeBalance Performance Granting automates the entire grant management process, including grant, loan and contributions.

FreeBalance Performance Granting Highlights

  • Grant Announcement - creation of new grant programs, including eligibility requirements, scoring algorithms and commitment integration with financial management systems. Grants can be announced via web, e-mal and web-services.
  • Grant Applications - grantee registration, grant finding, automatic notifications, and full online grant applications. Completed grants can be automatically routed to the appropriate reviewers.
  • Grant Assessment - support for simple to complex assessment criteria, including threshold review, multiple reviewers with check-lists, scoring, staff and external reviews and peer panels. Full correspondence management, including schedules, notes, tasks, notifications and escalations are supported.
  • Grant Award - automated award notification, contract assembly and integration with financial systems. Grant negotiation and review is also provided.
  • Grant Administration - post-award administration, including performance reports, dispute resolution, grant monitoring and loan repayments.

The FreeBalance Performance Granting module can be integrated with FreeBalance® Financials or other financial management applications.

Supported Standards

  • Java Platform
  • Enterprise Edition (Java EE)
  • Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)
  • Java Porlet Specification (JSR-168)
  • Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
  • Universal Description
  • Discovery and Integration (UDDI)
  • Web Services Description Language (WSDL)
  • Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
  • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
  • Web Services Inspection Language (WSIL)
  • XForms
  • XML Process Definition Language (XPDL)
  • Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)

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