Chinamasa under fire

4.0    FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS BY THE COMMITTEE

4.1    THE PUBLIC FINANCE MANAGEMENT SYSYEM

The Government of Zimbabwe introduced the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) in 1999. This is a networked computer based system which allows Ministries to carry out accounting and financial transactions. The system is managed centrally by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and as a result, allows Treasury access to line Ministries’ management information and be in a position to control, monitor and supervise the management of public funds. The system however was rendered ineffective during the hyperinflationary era as it failed to cope with the escalating figures.

Following the introduction of the multicurrency system, there were renewed efforts to get the system back on track. Since 2009, there have been a number of challenges which the audit drew attention to from year to year. From 2009 to 2011 the system experienced constant down time due to connectivity challenges. As a result, certain transactions were done outside the system with the intention to upload when the System was up but sometimes never got uploaded. The other challenge was that some outlying Government stations were not connected and as a result, they had to transmit transactions done manually to the nearest input location. In this environment, reconciliations of the Sub Paymaster General Accounts with the PFMS had proved to be a nightmare for the majority of Ministries.

During the 2014 Annual Audit, the Office of the Auditor General carried out an audit exercise to determine the effectiveness of the general information technology controls of the PFMS. The findings are highlighted below.

4.1.1 Officials granted access to PFMS SAP ALL Profile System outside the official job descriptions.

The System Application Products in data processing (SAP) ALL profile grants unlimited access to the system including all functional areas and Basic Security Administration. Audit sought assurance that access was granted based on business need and restricted to a limited number of users who were being monitored closely. Audit found out that a senior official in the Accountant General’s Office was granted access to the system which enabled him to create and delete accounting documents, which was not in line with his job description.

The Accountant General however, assured the Committee during oral evidence that indeed access was granted based on business need and currently access was now limited to a limited number of users. He informed the Committee that access was granted to the Director PFMS, the Deputy Director PFMS and the PFMS Technical Manager in the Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Courier Services.

The official in question was the Acting Accountant General and was granted access on the basis of a perceived need. It was envisaged that should the need arise for the Accountant General to authorise changes in the system, he would be able to effect such changes. The Ministry had however acknowledged the control weaknesses associated with such a decision. As corrective measure, the Ministry withdrew access by all users with effect from 18 May, 2015 and currently access will temporarily be granted for specified transactions approved by the Accountant General. The Ministry had also put in place procedures which were availed to the Committee as evidence, which require user Ministries to formally request and justify granting of user profile and before such access is granted, requests are scrutinised to ensure consistency with the user’s job descriptions and rule out any conflict of roles with an existing profile for the same users. The Committee was satisfied with the measures taken to address the audit finding.

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