Solutions for External Aid Projects and Funds
External assistance and cooperation funding for developing countries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) contributes significantly to international development and progress towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals. Providing external aid as direct budgetary support is a recent development, but still many external aid projects are administered outside of the budget. Many external aid projects are provided by or monitored by third parties who require an effective financial management solution.
FreeBalance Government Resource Planning (GRP) solutions for external aid projects and funds simplify administration and reduce transaction costs for government or private organizations that manage aid projects. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite automates reporting to donors, project finance management, and project performance management.
FreeBalance Solution Highlights
- Programmed for Public Financial Management
No customization required. Quick configuration to specific country context. FreeBalance software is optimized for public finance, with fiscal controls and government financial management rules built into the main code of the software.
- Implementation in Less than 30 Days
A comprehensive project accounting system supporting international financial standards, commitment accounting and donor-specific requirements can be operational in less than a month.
- Targeted Chart of Accounts (COA)
The COA is adapted rapidly to track many specific funds, performance objectives and project financial controls.
- Progressive Activation
The configuration can adapt to meet future requirements and can scale from project to whole-of-government systems. FreeBalance solutions can be scaled down to basic capability for fast initial implementation and then gradually scaled up. Features and functionality are activated by selecting configuration options and adding budget controls over time.
- Reporting to Donors
Reports based on statutory, global or donor requirements track expenditures by project, donor fund, or direct budgetary support.
- Multi-Donor Aid Harmonization
Integration with the Aid Management Platform (AMP) from Development Gateway Foundation (DGF) enables collaboration among donors for complex projects and paves the way to direct budgetary support. The Aid Management Platform (AMP) is a web-based application that enables governments to better manage and coordinate development assistance. http://amp.developmentgateway.org/
Differentiation
Many organizations leverage generic Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) software designed for small businesses for aid projects. These applications are often low cost and support basic bookkeeping and reporting. FreeBalance GRP software provides a better value to organizations managing aid projects through:
- Scalability – the FreeBalance Accountability Suite can scale from project to multiple project to departmental to whole-of-government.
- Commitment Accounting and Budgetary Controls – provides the fiscal discipline necessary to manage aid projects and be accountable to donors.
- Flexible configurations – supporting international standards and the ability to deploy rapidly – in days – and reconfigure over time. Modules can be added.
- Value-based pricing model – provides subscription pricing for the duration of the project. The total cost of ownership (TCO) to implement, support and meet donor fiscal requirements is less with the FreeBalance Accountability Suite.
Applicability for Millenium Challenge Corporation Projects
FreeBalance works closely with partners for MCC project contracts. These partners and trained and certified with the FreeBalance Accountability Suite. Advantages of the FreeBalance approach include:
- Pre-configured implementations – enables fast roll-out of public financial management functionality.
- Well-defined interfaces – enables integration with government-supplied software at all stages in the budget cycle from appropriations through the payment.
- Ease of Use – budgetary controls, account off-sets, valid code combinations and flexible COA reduces errors and improves productivity.
- Vendor commitment – ensures that the software is supported and enhanced to meet the requirements of MCC projects.
- Proven transparency and accountability – operating in Developing Nations around the world, including low-capacity countries, and providing effective donor reporting meeting international standards.
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
Additional Information:
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