Finance and Accounts: Control, Budget and Accountability
Public finance and accounts test whether you can apply the principles that protect public money: legality, regularity, economy, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability. The accounting officer, usually the permanent secretary or chief executive, is responsible for the proper management of funds and assets, while internal audit provides independent assurance. Expenditure must be covered by appropriation, supported by evidence, recorded in the vote book, and processed through the approved procurement and payment systems. Financial regulations set the detail; the PSR and procurement law provide the surrounding framework.
Core rules and concepts
- No expenditure without appropriation or other lawful authority; virement and supplementary budgets have their own rules.
- Segregate duties: the officer who initiates a payment should not be the sole approver or recorder.
- Keep primary records: vouchers, receipts, stores records, asset registers, and vote-book entries.
- Procurement must follow prescribed thresholds and methods; splitting contracts to avoid thresholds is a control breach.
- Internal audit checks compliance and value for money; it does not replace management's responsibility.
- Assets and stores must be recorded, safeguarded, and periodically verified.
- Financial reporting must be timely, accurate, and reconcilable.
Worked example
A department wants to buy furniture costing more than its approved threshold, but the vote for furniture is exhausted. The officer proposes using the contingency vote and splitting the purchase into two smaller orders. Reasoning: both moves are improper. The contingency vote is not a general reserve for convenience, and splitting evades the procurement threshold. The proper route is to seek virement or supplementary provision within the rules, obtain procurement clearance, and process the purchase as one requirement if funds become available.
Traps that cost marks
- Spending before appropriation or warrant.
- Splitting purchases to avoid thresholds.
- Treating internal audit as the accounting officer.
- Failing to record assets in the register.
- Using contingency funds for routine expenses without authority.