Ifmis has fully stabilised,says Accountant General

 Accountant General Henry Mphasa says the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) has fully stabilised and started producing user reports.

But he said network failure and inadequate gadgets in some agencies continue to affect service delivery to full potential.

Responding to questions on Wednesday on the performance of Ifmis a year after a complete rollout to all government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), Mphasa said the system application and products-based Ifmis is now fully operationals.

Mphasa said he is satisfied with results as the system is now producing reports for users in MDAs, including annual financial statements although there are some gaps.

He said: “Some functionalities such as contract management and revenue module have not covered all MDAs pending conclusion of providing training to end users and equipment to MDAs.

“MDAs have embraced the new Ifmis platform and appreciating the benefits of the robustness of the system though isolated challenges still remain is some cases like network failure.”

Mphasa said through Ifmis, they have met the structural benchmark by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) outlined in the four-year $175 million Extended Credit Facility agreement.

He said the financial reports are enhancing public transparency in budget implementation as MDAs are now able to track their commitments in the system, which helps them to plan better in terms of implementation of their activities.

Public Accounts Committee of Parliament chairperson Mark Botomani said in an interview on Wednesday that they will do proper assessment of compliance of Ifmis when the Auditor General’s report of 2023 is presented to Parliament.

He said: “However, if our previous assessment of the MDAs is anything to go by, there are still glaring gaps with regard to compliance.

“Our suspicion is that most controlling officers do not have adequate monitoring systems to ensure that their officers are using these systems seamlessly.”

Malawi University of Science and Technology professor of finance, accounting and corporate strategy James Kamwachale-Khomba said in an interview that Ifmis should be the catalyst for public finance digitalisation, adding that the officers should embrace integrity to safeguard the public coffers.

He said: “We still need Ifmis as part of the public finance digitalisation with proper internal controls.

“We need to enhance the software programming, define clearly sound reporting systems with good segregation of duties and trainings on the human capital on the Ifmis.”

SAP-based Ifmis is a German enterprise resource planning software that replaced the Epicor-based Ifmis.