Kakata, Margibi County -The Department of Comptroller and Accounting General, on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, has completed the validation process for the 2010 Chart of Accounts in Kakata, Margibi County.
Adopted in 2010, the Chart of Accounts is an essential instrument that forms the governmental financial framework.
The goal of the Kakata validation process was to examine and determine how the Chart of Accounts will affect the policies, practices, and functions of the Public Financial Management, or PFM, system (IFMIS and other pertinent PFM systems).
The process also afforded key stakeholders the opportunity to review the works of the technical team; identifying issues that could impede the optimal use of the Chart of Accounts.
They also concluded on a final updated version of the Chart of Accounts that will subsequently be printed and disseminated.
The Comptroller and Accounting General of Liberia, Hon. Elwood T. Nettey in closing remarks thanked various participating institutions for the level of efforts and commitment to gather and review the proposed changes to the Chart of Account. “I also appreciate and look forward to more engagements”, he said.
According to Hon. Nettey, with the validation of the Chart of Account, the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning now has the opportunity to capture all institutions that were not listed or mentioned in the 2010 Chart of Account Manual and their coding system.
He noted that the new coding system will also capture all named institutions for reporting purposes, consistent with the Public Financial Management law. “Going forward the new chart of accounts will comprehensively be able to code and capture all entities that are receiving government funding”, Comptroller and Accounting General Netty said.
In order to facilitate planning, budget preparation, accounting, and reporting, the Government of Liberia (GoL) adopted a harmonized Standard Chart of Accounts (CoA) in 2010.
The issued Chart of Accounts conformed to International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Manual 2001 and accommodated various types of reporting requirements prescribed under the Public Finance Management Act 2009 (revised 2019).
Since its implementation, the GoL Standard Chart of Accounts has undergone several revisions to address emerging requirements due to changes in the PFM legal and operating environment. Notable changes include: upgrade of IFMIS, the introduction of MTEF Budgeting, updates in the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), and other critical budgeting/financial reporting requirements.
A review was judged necessary to accommodate new and emerging requirements while maintaining compliance with current statutory and international accounting and reporting standards, even though the current Chart of Accounts has been able to address the majority of GoL’s budgeting, accounting, and reporting needs.
The five days’ session was attended by technicians and officials from the General Auditing Commission (GAC), Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Department of the Budget, Ministry of Finance & Development Planning; IFMIS Unit- Ministry of Finance & Development Planning; Financial Reporting & Reconciliation Unit-CAGD, Ministry of Finance & Development Planning; and Department of Fiscal Affairs – Ministry of Finance & Development Planning.
