Accounting and Financial Management in Local Councils: Training Module

From the year 2012, Local Councils will be managing their own budgets, and the staffs working in council secretariats require training on local finance and accounting. The training module " Accounting and Financial Management in Local Councils" is compiled on request from CSTI (Civil Service Training Institute) and is in the final reviewing stage. It is intended to complete the module by mid-October and conduct its first training program on the last week of the month. The Module is based on illustrations and instructions for application by account officers in their day-to-day duties processing accounting information for decision making at various levels in Local Councils and related Institutions. Procedures covered in the module are related to budgeting, collecting revenue, expenditure, recording, summarizing, and preparing financial statements and reports. All instructions will be in accord with Public Finance Law 3/2006 and Law on Decentralized Administrations in Maldives 7/2010.

Training Materials consist of PowerPoint presentation (brief), Tutorial Text, and Working Papers. The contents of the module are developed for two levels of training;

• Level 1 - introductory level - duration 26 hours with 20% practical works.
• Level 2 - working level - duration 40 hours with 50% practical works.

The Module consists as below;

Accounting and Financial Management in Local Councils

Contents

1. Fiscal Responsibilities

1.1 Public Finance Law 3/2006

1.2 Law on Decentralized Administrations in Maldives 7/2010

2. Local Public Finance

2.1 Legal framework on Local Public Finance

2.2 Technical Approach to Local Public Finance

3. Accounting and Finance Management in Fiscal Decentralization

3.1 Revenue and Income

3.2 Local Budgeting

3.3 Public Expenditure

3.4 Asset Management

3.5 Fund Accounts

3.6 Debt Management

3.7 Payroll

3.8 Financial Statements and Reporting

Budgeting in Decentralized Administrations: Proper Training Needed

Change is constant in our lives, in politics, and in society. After the recent political changes of 2008, in the Maldives, all the categories of the public staff have the responsibility to adjust their working environment and adopt these changes. Decentralized Administrations are one of the toughest, and managing the change of Decentralized Fiscal Administration is vital.

After establishing decentralized administrations on February 26th, 2011, officials in the Ministry of Finance and the Local Councils had to work very hard to maintain order in local finance. In the absence of well equipped Local Government Authority, some local public institutes did their best to educate council staff and councilors on local finance.

Since Local Finance Administrations had to follow both the Decentralized Administrations Act (7/2010) and Public Finance Act (3/2006), it took a while to arrange the administration on proper interpretation. Local budgeting is one of the significant areas where adequate assistance and training have lacked.

LGA (Local Government Authority) and CSC (Civil Service Commission) have legal responsibilities on training local councils. Both institutions have to formulate a curriculum for the training they have to undertake. Otherwise, there will be budget duplication on training expenses for both institutions and confusion within the councils.

According to Decentralization Act (7/2010), chapter 12, article 130 (a), all administrative staffs in local councils are Civil Servants, and Civil Service Law should be applied to these staffs. According to Civil Service Act 5/2007, article 18 (m), CSC is responsible for training civil servants on management and administration. CSTI (Civil Service Training Institute) is the institution under CSC for this purpose.

According to Decentralization Law( 7/2010), chapter 6, article 61 (g), LGA should facilitate the training requirements and training for local councils.

Suppose we review both laws by understanding the importance of administrative flow from one institution to another. In that case, we can see that the responsibilities and tasks for both institutions are clearly written. As a person involved in some of the training conducted by CSC and other institutions, I realized that both CSTI and LGA had different views in interpreting the Law and kept their training information concealed. They performed their individual training, demanding it as their responsibility in accord with the law.

Local budgeting was one of the training which raised many questions. We should understand that the consequences of conducting different types of training on the same topic would result in inconsistent fiscal administrations in Local Councils. For the sake of public administrative best practices, we should compromise with each other and harmonize the training instead of the power fight, which would harm the infant local administration.

(This article contains general information from the writer's viewpoint only and is not intended to be comprehensive nor to provide specific accounting, financial, legal, or official advice. This article is not a substitute for such professional or official advice. It should not be acted on or relied upon, or used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect you or your organization. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect you or your organization, you should consult your relevant authority. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this article, this cannot be guaranteed. Neither the writer nor any related entity shall have any liability to any person or entity that relies on the information contained in this article. Any such reliance is solely for the user's risk.)

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