The meaning of GIFMIS is Government Integrated Financial Management Information System. It is an information technology system for budget management and accounting from the Federal Government of Nigeria meant to improve Public Expenditure Management processes, enhance greater accountability and transparency across Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
GIFMIS is designed to make use of modern information and communication technologies to help the government plan and use its financial resources more efficiently and effectively.
It has to do with:
Budget preparation and execution
Treasury management and reporting
General ledger and financial reporting
Procurement, including Commitments, purchase orders, Maintenance of a central supplier register and Support for e-procurement
Receipting, Accounts Receivable and Revenue Management
Payments and Accounts Payable
Inventory and Stock Control
Fixed Asset Management
Project accounting
GIFMIS implementation enables the Federal Government of Nigeria to process financial transactions faster and at a much lower cost. GIFMIS also improves the reliability of management information. This increases the speed at which decisions are taken and services delivered to the general public. It also reduce opportunities for corruption and ensure safety of public resources.①
GIFMIS supports public resource management. It’s a targeted anti-corruption initiative, modernising fiscal processes, using better methods, techniques and information technology.
The GIFMIS is aimed at improving the acquisition, allocation, utilisation and conservation of public financial resources using automated and integrated, effective, efficient and economic information systems. The GIFMIS will aid strategic management of public financial resources for enhanced accountability, transparency, cost effective public service delivery, and economic growth and poverty reduction efforts.
Purpose of GIFMIS
The purpose of introducing GIFMIS is to assist the FGN in improving the management, performance and outcomes of Public Financial Management (PFM). The immediate purpose of this project is to enable an executable budget, i.e. a budget which can be implemented as planned by addressing the critical public financial management weaknesses including:
Failure to enact the budget before the start of the financial year
The budget is not based on realistic forecasts of cash availability
Lack of effective cash management – multiple bank accounts within Treasury and MDAs that make effective control impossible; when combined with the lack of cash forecasting this leads to inefficient and unplanned borrowing.
A lack of integration between different financial management functions and processes, e.g. budget is prepared in a way that makes it difficult to manage the budget execution through the chart of accounts.
Objectives of the GIFMIS
The overall objective is to implement a computerised financial management information system for the FGN, which is efficient, effective, and user friendly and which:
Increases the ability of FGN to undertake central control and monitoring of expenditure and receipts in the MDAs.
Increases the ability to access information on financial and operational performance.
Increases internal controls to prevent and detect potential and actual fraud.
Increases the ability to access information on Government’s cash position and economic performance.
Improves medium term planning through a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)
Provides the ability to understand the costs of groups of activities and tasks.
Increases the ability to demonstrate accountability and transparency to the public and cooperating partners.②
References: ① gifmis.gov.ng/ ② oagf.gov.ng/initiative/gifmis/
