The National Treasury has commissioned an audit of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) to identify weak areas and improve on them. The audit, which is being undertaken by the Auditor General and, is nearing conclusion.
Dr Kamau Thugge, the Principal Secretary National Treasury said the Auditor General has been looking into IFMIS and would soon be making recommendations. “We had asked for an audit because we want to see how the system is operating and also point out areas of improvement,” he said.
He said there are areas earmarked for improvement to ease use of the system and make fraudulent transactions to be near impossible. “We are also looking at risk management on the system and here we are looking at possibly having triggers in place so that fraud can be detected before any funds are lost. This will be in addition to the audit trails already in place,” he said.
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Dr Thugge spoke when he hosted members of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly to the IFMIS offices. He noted that IFMIS is now playing a critical role in increasing transparency and accountability, including giving investigating agencies crucial leads in the fight against corruption.
“So far the system is doing well. It has successfully assisted investigating authorities by giving them audit trails that they can follow and bring a case to conclusion. These audit trails cannot be done without IFMIS,” he said.
Dr Thugge added that the National Treasury is also looking to add new modules on IFMIS that include debt and pension management modules that are expected to enhance the management of public finances.
Mr Jerome Ochieng, the Director of IFMIS said the National Treasury, has continuously been exploring ways to improve the system to ensure that it handles emerging challenges including online crime. “Cyber-crime has become a major challenge and we have always moved with speed to ensure that when such challenges emerge, mitigation measures are in place to avoid being caught off guard,” he said.
The Public Accounts Committee was led by the Chairman Nicholas Gumbo. The team was on a visit to assess the infrastructure and operations at IFMIS. “The aspirations of the system are good and we need to inform Kenyans about its benefits,” said Gumbo.
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