FreeBalance® Accountability Suite
FreeBalance Public Financials Management
Commitment accounting and budget management are unique to the public sector, enabling budgetary and commitment controls. To support these controls, the (PFM) Public Financials Management category of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite delivers:
- Budget and Commitment Accounting modules to support core government financial functions for unitary governments, national governments, line ministries, sub-national and municipal governments and projects
- Assets and Inventory modules to support government fixed assets, stores, fleet and facilities
- Projects and Job Costing modules to support project management link budgeting and project accounting to project estimates and forecasts
The FreeBalance (PFM) Public Financial Management category in the FreeBalance Accountability Suite includes standard accounting functions, such as:
- Journal, vouchers and ledgers
Supports traditional accounting cycle used in public and private sectors.
- Real-time ledgers
Balances ledgers in real-time with budgets to ensure that budgets are not overspent.
- Reform and modernization
Modernizes the financial management structure such as migrating to accrual accounting.
- Project accounting
Improves project and program monitoring.
- Fixed assets
Manages asset accounting, depreciation and evaluation.
- Inventory
Manages government stores, transfers, inventory counts and consumption.
Unlike private sector financial accounting, government commitment accounting is budget driven rather than profit driven. Commitment accounting requires numerous control mechanisms between the initial budget approval and the completion of fiscal transactions. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite supports all commitment controls. The commitment controls provided by FreeBalance in the (PFM) Public Financials Management category of the FreeBalance Accountability Suite include:
- Budgetary control
The initial approved budgetary funds are mapped to the Chart of Accounts (COA) at a pre-determined COA hierarchy level for aggregate fiscal control.
- Multiple levels of allotment controls
Supports approved appropriations, warrants or allocations, mapped to summary or detailed levels within the COA and to fiscal periods.
- Commitment control
A soft commitment or intention to spend.
- Obligation control
A hard commitment or contractual obligation.
- Multi-funds and project controls
FreeBalance links Projects and Programs with fund sources, including linking budgets, projects or programs to specific revenue sources and donors.
- Tolerances
Set tolerances for controls to ensure fiscal discipline and compliance to the budget law while enabling appropriate discretion.
- Segregation of duties
Ensure compliance with government regulations through separation of duties and approval controls.
- Public accounting and budgetary classifications
Control based on budget classifications executed via accounting procedures.
- Budget execution
Control expenditures based on the established legal budget and government procedures.
- Allotment and appropriation control
Integrate authority to spend and release funds to enable expenditures and payments.
- Commitment accounting
Eliminate budget overspending by setting aside funds for in-progress expenditure plans (commitments, soft commitments or pre-encumbrances) and purchase activity (obligations, hard commitments or encumbrances).
- Fund management
Control expenditure conditions based on source and type of funds to ensure fiscal discipline.
- Budget transfers
Manage budget transfers, supplemental budgets and virements following government standards.
The following FreeBalance modules comprise the (PFM) Public Financials
Management category:
- (PFBC) Budget Controls
- (PFCB) Cash Books
- (PFCE) Controls for ERP
- (PFLM) Line Ministry System
- (PFMS) Municipal System
- (PFPF) Core Public Financials
- (PFPS) Project System
- (PFRS) Regional System
- (PFSL) Sub Ledgers
- (PFSR) Standard Reports
- (PFFA) Government Fixed Assets
- (PFFM) Government Fleet Management
- (PFFP) Government Facilities + Property
- (PFSI) Government Stores + Inventory
- (PFJC) Job Costing
-
(PFPR) Public Works Projects
Modules may be purchased separately. Please note that module dependencies will determine if other modules in this category or other categories must be purchased. Please contact FreeBalance for more information.
Supported Standards
The FreeBalance Accountability Suite supports good fiscal practice and internationally recognized standards such as:
- United Nations Common Functions of Government (COFOG)
Functional classification to report government statistics to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations
- The IMF Government Finance Statistics (GFS)
Provides a comprehensive conceptual and accounting framework suitable for analyzing and evaluating fiscal policy and performance of the general government sector and broader public sector of any country
- The IMF Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency
Method to assess government fiscal transparency with practical advice
for improvement
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
A collection of rules, procedures and conventions that define accepted accounting practices. This includes broad guidelines and detailed procedures applied to both the public and private sectors
- International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
International Accounting Standards Board, International private and public sector reporting standards
- International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS)
Cash and accrual reporting requirements for government and public sector organizations. Compliance with the IPSAS standards guarantees that the financial reporting of public bodies conveys what is termed a true and fair view of the financial situation. IPSAS take account of the characteristic features of the
public sector.
- Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
Governance outcome measurements supported in performance objectives
- Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEF)
Multiple year rational planning and budget formulation processes enabling the government to establish credible and transparent criteria for allocating public resources to strategic priorities while ensuring overall fiscal discipline
- The World Bank Treasury Reference Model
A development tool for fiscal managers and system developers, intended to help implement good practices in fiscal accounting and expenditure control
Return to top |
