Public Disclosure Authorized

WPS8689

Policy Research Working Paper 8689

Public Disclosure Authorized

The Use of Data Analytics Techniques

to Assess the Functioning of a Government’s
Financial Management Information System
An Application to Pakistan and Cambodia
Public Disclosure Authorized

Ali Hashim
Moritz Piatti-Fünfkirchen
Winston Cole
Ammar Naqvi
Akmal Minallah
Maun Prathna
Sokbunthoeun So
Public Disclosure Authorized

Governance Global Practice

January 2019
Policy Research Working Paper 8689

Abstract
Public financial management enables government to imple- analysis of the transactions profile suggests that a large share
ment policy. Financial management information systems of the budget is not subjected to FMIS internal controls. In
are a central element of PFM in that they facilitate govern- Cambodia the majority of the budget is channeled through
ment financial transactions and subject them to rigorous the system, but the method exposes very large advances to
budgetary controls. Therefore, the adequate use of FMIS commercial bank accounts that are subsequently drawn
systems supports the implementation of fiscal rules and upon but outside the system. Both of these raise concerns
provides the basis for holding the executive accountable for about the effectiveness of the FMIS system. Deploying
implementing the budget. Yet, the integrity of expenditure data analytics techniques can help assess whether FMIS
transactions and effectiveness of budget controls is rarely systems serve form or function. Judging a system by its use
assessed. This paper explores the meaning of adequate use of is informative about governments’ revealed preferences in
FMIS systems and points to data analytics techniques that expenditure management. This paper puts the spotlight
can shed light on how the use FMIS systems affects expen- on the foundation of expenditure data and advocates for a
diture data integrity and effectiveness of budget controls. transparent, methodical and evidenced based approach to
This methodology is applied to Pakistan and Cambodia, FMIS deployment and expenditure management reform.
which reveals two very different problems. In Pakistan the

This paper is a product of the Governance Global Practice. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open
access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. Policy Research
Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://www.worldbank.org/research. The authors may be contacted at
mpiatti@worldbank.org.

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The Use of Data Analytics Techniques to Assess the
Functioning of a Government’s Financial
Management Information System
An Application to Pakistan and Cambodia

Ali Hashim
Moritz Piatti-Fünfkirchen
Winston Cole
Ammar Naqvi
Akmal Minallah
Maun Prathna
Sokbunthoeun So

Contact: Moritz Piatti-Fünfkirchen is the corresponding author and can be reached at

mpiatti@worldbank.org.

Key words: Governance and Public Sector Management, Public Finances, Fiscal
Control, Public Financial Management, Public Expenditure Management, Financial
Management Information Systems, FMIS, IFMIS.

JEL codes: H61 (Budget systems), H83 (Public administration – public sector accounting
and audits), O19 (Role of International Organizations), O33 (Technological Change).
Acknowledgements
This work is based on the analysis of detailed treasury transaction data from Pakistan
and Cambodia. The authors would therefore like to acknowledge the contributions of
the State Treasuries and Ministries of Finance of these countries for making the data
available and guiding the authors in the interpretation of the results.

The authors are thankful to Leah April, Khuram Farooq, Ayesha Guzman, Lewis
Hawke, Minh Nguyen, Ron Points, Sabah Rasheed, Say Sasanith, Nicola Smithers, and
Fanny Weiner who have participated in discussions relating to the methodology and
made valuable contributions to the debate, which is gratefully acknowledged.

Work on the analysis of the Cambodia data was done during two World Bank missions
and one IMF mission in 2017 and 2018. These missions were led by Ms. Leah April, Sr.
Public Sector Specialist, World Bank and Mr. Holger Van Eden, IMF Regional Public
Finance Advisor, TAOLAM, Bangkok. Mr. Maun Prathna, Director ICT, Ministry of
Economy and Finance, RGOC and staff of the ICT Department, MEF, participated in the
analysis. Work on Pakistan was done jointly with Mr. Ammar Naqvi, Director General
MIS office of the Controller General of Accounts, GoP.

The authors are particularly thankful to Mr. Ismaila Ceesay who has kindly agreed to
support and sponsor the publication of this paper. Mr. Ceesay is Governance Practice
Manager in the South Asia Region and steward of the global FMIS community.

2 
 
1. Introduction and Motivation
The way budgets are managed has direct implications on a government’s ability to
maintain a prudent fiscal stance and efficiently deliver services. Public financial
management (PFM) is the vehicle that enables governments to implement policy. This is
broadly recognized by the literature and practitioners alike [1-6] and consequently
governments with the assistance of the development community have invested
considerable time and resources into PFM reforms. The OECD estimates that every year
oversees development assistance to PFM amounts to about US$ 1.6 billion globally. [7]

Financial management information systems (FMIS) play a central role in PFM, as they
facilitate the budget execution process. [8-10] At their core, FMIS systems enable
processing of financial transactions and have embedded a set of controls that ensure the
PFM act is implemented. As such, the adequate use of an FMIS should ensure
budgetary and commitment control and thereby contribute to adherence to fiscal rules.
The repository of financial transactions carried out in government provides the basis for
financial accountability of the executive to the legislature and citizens and is thus a
fundamental building block in democracy. Conversely, inadequate and opaque capture
of government expenditure data introduces opportunity for fraudulent conduct and
distances the executive from citizens. FMIS systems are thus central to expenditure
control, transparency, and service delivery and by extension democratic processes.

Recognizing the potential benefits, many donors have invested significant resources
into FMIS reforms. The World Bank alone has committed over US$ 4,079 million
through 134 operations across 74 countries since 1985. By the turn of the century, about
six operations were approved annually, averaging about US$ 33 million each. About 28
percent of all projects mapped to the World Bank Governance practice had at least one
FMIS component making up about 17 percent of its overall commitment. [10]

However, the results have often been disappointing. Frequently implementation of

FMIS systems has been found to be operationally difficult, prone to cost overruns and
delays, and subject to change management issues,1 [11] which eventually led to
unsatisfactory progress. It was estimated that FMIS project completion times range from
seven to 14 years [12], which is well beyond the stipulated five-year period for World
Bank investment loans and even still an underestimation of implementation time, as it

                                                            
1 A detailed discussion on the role of change management issues in FMIS reform can be found in Hugues et al 2017. 

3 
 
does not account for the many back to back operations.2 The financial costs associated
with such projects are significant and range from US$ 5 million for small countries to
US $100 million or more for mid to larger sized countries. The treasury system
investment operations in Nigeria and the Russian Federation consumed US$ 200 million
and US$ 650 million, respectively. [10]

The costs and time associated with these projects suggest the need for a diagnostic to
ensure deficiencies are adequately identified and reforms are well targeted to ensure the
reforms contribute efficiently to the larger PFM objectives. Toward this end, the World
Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) developed a diagnostic framework that
guides such an assessment [13] and issued an accompanying policy research paper that
outlines critical success factors and key failure points throughout the FMIS system
lifecycle. [10]

1.1. The Role of Budget Coverage in FMIS Reform

A fundamental theme that emerges from the diagnostic framework [13] and the policy
research paper [10] is that budget coverage and utilization are critical for FMIS reform
in its contribution to PFM objectives. The authors developed a conceptual framework of
FMIS reform and place coverage and utilization firmly into their theory of change. They
argue that a comprehensive diagnostic, and successful design, procurement, and
implementation, are all important steps in the reform process. Ultimately, however, the
usefulness of the FMIS as a means to achieve PFM objectives will depend on its budget
coverage and how it is actually being used. The framework is shown in figure 1 below.

                                                            
2
Examples of back to back operations include Cambodia, Malawi, and Zambia where the entire
FMIS reform process has already taken well over a decade and is unlikely to be completed
anytime soon.

4 
 
Figure 1 A Conceptual Framework of FMIS Reform 

Source: Hashim and Piatti-Fünfkirchen 2018 [10].

Given the role of budget coverage in FMIS reform, it is important to illustrate what
budget coverage means. The aforementioned FMIS diagnostic [13] pursues this question
and identifies the following areas that should be captured on an ex-ante basis:

a) Whether transactions handled by the central ministry of finance, such as debt

servicing, fiscal transfers, and subsidies and transfers to state-owned enterprises
are routed through the system or are carried out directly by the ministry of
finance communicating with the central bank;
b) Whether the system is implemented only at the central level or if it has also been
implemented at the provincial level and other subnational levels;
c) The percentage of the recurrent budget that is processed through the FMIS and
whether the system is used for detailed transaction processing or a large part of
the recurrent budget is transacted through program advances issued to spending
agencies which are processed outside the system;
d) Whether transactions related to the capital budget are processed through the
FMIS, and the extent to which this budget is transacted through project advance
accounts;

5 
 
 e) Whether transactions against extra-budgetary funds are processed through the
FMIS;
f) Whether transactions against internally generated funds are processed through
the FMIS;
g) The extent to which transactions related to donor funds are processed through
the system.

For a set of 22 countries, the coverage of the FMIS has been estimated by trying to
determine which payments and receipt transactions are routed through the FMIS and
which bank accounts are covered by the FMIS. This was used by a quantitative study to
assess whether FMIS systems have an effect on fiscal discipline and found a negative
correlation between FMIS budget coverage and the deviation of planned to actual
deficit targets, as well as a positive correlation between budget coverage and relevant
PEFA scores. The authors stress that results only hold if budget coverage means budget
subjected to FMIS internal budgetary controls, as expenditure controls may otherwise
not be applied. [14] In Ghana and Zambia for example, wages and salaries were not
managed through the FMIS and thus not subject to FMIS internal controls. The
executive was therefore able to increase salaries substantially mid-year without
legislative approval and adequate checks and balances. This put excessive strain on the
budget and would not have been possible had these items been subjected to FMIS
internal controls. [15-17]

FMIS coverage and utilization also matters for the reliability of expenditure reports.
Partial budget coverage in the FMIS means that any reporting from the system will also
be partial, and therefore any resulting analytical work potentially biased or misleading.
[10] Transactions can also be posted to the ledger without going through the FMIS to
complement, but this process does not go through the same rigor and verifying the
integrity of these is more difficult. Some of these transactions may be accurate, others
may not be, and other transactions may not be posted at all, as was found during an
assessment of the Malawi FMIS. [10, 18] Posting transactions into the system after they
have occurred only gives the illusion of comprehensiveness and control, while integrity
cannot be ensured, and controls are actually not applied.

Coverage and utilization of FMIS is important as it determines how well the system can
support expenditure control and gives a measure of the integrity of expenditure
reporting. What underpins coverage and utilization is the actual transactions database.
Yet, actual government transactions data are rarely analyzed despite their obvious
value proposition: (i) revealed preferences of the executive to meet expenditure targets,
and (ii) a measure of confidence in the integrity of government expenditure data. This
paper is the first in exploring governments’ expenditure transactions more closely and

6 
 
develops a methodology that helps analyze these data and identify deficiencies. The
examples of Pakistan and Cambodia are used illustratively to showcase how such an
analysis could be done and inform the reform process. The foundation of expenditure
data comes from the transaction profile. Harvesting and analyzing this provides critical
insight into the governing political economy and an opportunity for a more targeted
engagement.

2. Materials and Methods

All expenditure transactions that are routed through the FMIS are reflected in the
general ledger without exception. Each transaction originates from a spending unit and
must be executed against the full chart of accounts, and specify the amount, payee
including recipient account number, and the time of transactions. Depending on the
detail of the chart of accounts, the transaction may capture source of funds, the
organizational code, the purpose of the expenditure (economic classification / line
item), in which jurisdiction the transaction happened and for what program or
sub/program it was intended. Each line of a typical budget execution report that is
produced by the FMIS would be an aggregate of multiple transactions against a
particular charge code. The format that the data structure of financial transactions in an
FMIS typically takes is given in table 1 below.
Table 1 Example of Data Capture by Transactions in FMIS 

  Full chart of accounts segment 
 
  Purpose 
Time  Source  Code  Prog/Sub‐ Payee (and 
Stamp  of  Org  (Line  Location  Prog  account 
Transaction ID  (date)  Funds  Code  Item)  Code  Code  Amount  number) 
Transaction 1                 
Transaction 2                 
…                 
Transaction n                 
Source: Authors.

These data can naturally be broken down and analyzed in many ways. For example, the
analyst may be interested in which spending units are making the largest transactions
and how can one ensure that these are carefully monitored. It allows an assessment for
price differentials for the same goods across governments across different suppliers.
Should a government wish to digitize payments it would have to work with service
providers who can be identified through this database. The timing of transactions is an

7 
 
important variable as it sheds light on adequate cash flow management, which has
direct consequences on the government’s ability to deliver services. These are just a few
examples of the types of analyses that are possible. They all have in common however
that access to the individual transactions is necessary, as aggregation in the FMIS across
line items, spending units or programs hides the necessary level of detail.

This study pursues a very specific purpose: it develops a methodology based on

transactions data on (i) how to estimate overall FMIS budget coverage for a given
country, and (ii) how to develop an expenditure transactions profile for government.
Data for Pakistan and Cambodia were kindly made available from state treasuries and
are used illustratively to showcase how such data can be analyzed and interpreted to
provide critical information for the expenditure management reform process.

2.1. Calculating Budgetary Coverage in FMIS

Calculating FMIS budget coverage requires the summation of the value of all
expenditure transactions routed through the FMIS in a given fiscal year, and
subsequently dividing these by the total approved budget reported by government.
This is presented in the equation below, where t represents the fiscal year and i the
individual transaction.

∑ , 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠 , 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠 , 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠 , . . . 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠 ,

 
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑡

From this, table 2 can be produced, which is populated by sample figures for illustrative
purposes.
Table 2 Sample Output of FMIS Budget Coverage Estimation 

  2015  2016  2017 

Total approved budget  590,131,124   655,701,248   771,413,233 
Total volume processed through the FMIS  415,895,403  577,632,504   722,040,630 
Percentage processed through the FMIS  70.5%  88.1%  94% 
Source: Authors.

These figures can be calculated for general government as well as provinces and/or
other subnational levels of government separately. These then give an idea of the
geographic spread in coverage of the FMIS and the distribution of the usage of
budgetary resources across the country, allowing the analyst to assess what percentage
are spent at the center and what at other levels of government (e.g. provinces).

8 
 
 2.2. Developing an Expenditure Transaction Profile
The transactions profile is a measure that gauges how all government expenditure
transactions are distributed by size. This was first presented in the 2018 Policy Research
Paper [10], which shows that the actual pattern of financial transactions can have
significant implications for budgetary control strategies and how to improve the
effectiveness of the FMIS for budget management. This study follows suit in the
estimation strategy, and calculates the number of transactions, percent of transactions,
the cumulative share of the number of transactions, as well as the cumulative share of
the amount processed through the FMIS for specific sets of transaction ranges. Table 3
provides a sample template with illustrative figures that was populated for both
Pakistan and Cambodia.
Table 3 Sample Template for Developing the Transaction Profile 

Cumulative 
Share of 
Total  Share of 
Ranges In  Amount 
Number of  Share of  Cumulative  Amount  Amount 
US$  Processed 
Transactions  Transactions  Share  (US$) of  Processed 
Equivalent  Through 
Transactions  through 
the FMIS 
FMIS 
< 100  3126  34.38%  3.80%  17,748  0.00%  0.00% 
100‐200  2519  27.71%  9.30%  70,160  0.01%  0.01% 
200‐500  1467  16.14%  18.00%  150,081  0.02%  0.05% 
500‐1k  962  10.58%  24.50%  443,526  0.05%  0.11% 
1k‐5k  489  5.38%  52.30%  7,019,724  0.74%  1.08% 
5k‐10k  249  2.74%  63.50%  7,532,601  0.80%  2.13% 
10k‐25k  99  1.09%  75.30%  18,427,032  1.95%  4.68% 
25k‐100k  78  0.86%  88.60%  65,989,063  6.98%  13.82% 
100k‐500k  52  0.57%  97.00%  131,150,367  13.88%  37.52% 
500k‐1,000k  27  0.30%  98.50%  151,599,040  16.04%  52.98% 
1,000k‐50,000k  17  0.19%  100.00%  231,045,308  24.45%  100% 
> 50,000k  7  0.08%  100.00%  331,450,281  35.08%  100% 
Totals  9,092  100%  100%  944,894,931  100%  100% 
Source: Authors.

As shown in the hypothetical example above, a larger percentage of the transactions

typically falls in the lower amount ranges. At the same time the total amounts of these
transactions tend to be low. On the other hand, the numbers of transactions in the
higher ranges is low but their share of the total amount processed through the system is

9 
 
high. This pattern is visualized in figure 2, where expenditure brackets are plotted
against the share of the number of transactions and value of transactions.
Figure 2 Typical Expenditure Transaction Profile 

40%
Share of transactions and amounts processed thru FMIS

34.38% 35.08%
35%

30% 27.71%

24.45%
25%

20%
16.14% 16.04%
15% 13.88%

10.58%
10%
6.98%
5.38%
5% 2.74%
1.95%
0.05% 0.74% 0.80% 1.09% 0.86% 0.57% 0.30% 0.19% 0.08%
0.00% 0.01% 0.02%
0%

Expenditure Brackets (in US$ Equivalent)

Share of transactions Share of amount processed through the FMIS

Source: Authors.

The transaction profile data was obtained for Pakistan and Cambodia and was plotted
against this template. This has subsequently been used to determine the granularity of
the transactions. The granularity of the transactions allows for an assessment of whether
the system is being used for retail transaction processing or just for drawing out
advances from treasury which are then processed off-line (and not through the system).
Therefore, it can be used to see whether there is a wider control problem with the
payment approval process in a country.

10 
 
3. Diagnosing the Transaction Ecosystem: The
Cases of Pakistan and Cambodia
This study draws on transactions data from Pakistan and Cambodia to investigate
actual FMIS budget coverage and determine the transactions profile to help interpret
how data from actual system use can guide expenditure management reform.

3.1. The Pakistan Case

Background 
The process of improving fiscal and financial reporting in Pakistan was initiated in the
early 1990s after observations by both the World Bank and the IMF, and a diagnostic
study under- taken by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), that the (then manual)
accounting and reporting system did not meet adequate standards for either financial or
fiscal reporting. Notably, both accounting and auditing were directed by the Auditor
General of Pakistan (an anomaly from pre-1947), budget reports by the Ministry of
Finance (MOF) were not fully reconciled with accounting reports by the AGPR and
provincial AGs, the Chart of Accounts (COA) was not compliant with IMF Government
Finance Statistics (GFS) standards for fiscal reporting, and neither financial nor fiscal
reports were timely or reliable. To meet these challenges, the Pakistan Audit
Department (PAD) launched the PIFRA Program in 1995 with World Bank support.
Under this program two projects have been executed, PIFRA I and PIFRA II. PIFRA I
was completed in 2005, and PIFRA II in 2015.

As part of the project, a major mission critical country-wide integrated system, the
Financial Accountability and Budget System (FABS), has been implemented to
spearhead the reforms and assist the government in the functional processes associated
with financial accounting and budgeting at the federal, provincial and district levels.

FABS functionality includes:

• Budget preparation: assists in compilation of budgets, prints the budget book

and associated reports, maintains a record of initial budgets, revisions, and
budget releases.
• Budget execution:
- Records commitments, receipts of goods and services;
- Ensures expenditures are in accordance with budget appropriations,
commitments and budget releases;

11 
 
 - Authorizes payment after checking for controls; gives payment instructions to
bank; and
- Records revenues and other receipts, enables better control over fiscal deficits
and arrears;
• Accounting and fiscal reporting:
- Enables accurate and timely posting of all transactions;
- Comprehensive reporting;
• Calculates payroll for civil servants;
• Maintains general provident fund accounts for civil servants; and
• Calculates pension payments and maintains pension accounts for government
retirees.

FABS has been implemented using an internationally well-known off-the-shelf

application software package, SAP, that was acquired after international competitive
bidding.

FABS includes modules for:

• Budget preparation
• General ledger
• Accounts payable
• Accounts receivable
• Payroll
• Pensions
• General Provident Fund
• Cash Flow Forecasting

The functional requirements of the system were developed by an international

consulting firm. Total direct costs related to systems implementation have been about
US$50 million, comparable to costs for similar projects in other countries.

The main system users are:

• Budgeting organizations across all levels of government including the federal

MOF; provincial finance departments; and district finance departments
• Accounting organizations across all levels of government including the Office of
the CGA; AGPR and Sub Offices; Provincial AGs; District Accounts Offices –
DAO (105); Sub-district and Tehsil offices; Government of Azad Jammu and
Kashmir (AJK)
• Line ministries and provincial line departments

12 
 
The system has been implemented in a partially distributed architecture and interfaces
with the Planning Commission, the Central Board of Revenue, the State Bank, the
National Bank, and the Debt Management Office.

Five separate systems have been implemented as follows:

- One for the Federal Government; Budgeting and Accounting transactions are
carried out on a central server located in Islamabad.
- One each for the four Provincial governments, of Punjab, Sindh, KP and
Baluchistan. Provincial Government Budgeting and Accounting transactions are
carried out on servers located in each of the provincial capitals, Lahore-Punjab,
Karachi-Sindh, Peshawar-KP and Quetta-Baluchistan.
- District government budgeting and accounting transactions are carried out on
the respective provincial servers.

The systems architecture and the institutional interfaces with the systems are shown in
figure 3 below.

13 
 
Figure 3 Pakistan FABS System Deployment and Institutional Relationships 

Source: Authors.

FMIS Budgetary Coverage 
There is significant variation in system use of the five systems across Pakistan. At the
federal government, only about 10% of the budget is routed through the system,
meaning that the main business of federal government is being done outside the
system. This share is significantly larger for provincial systems ranging from 43% to
69% of budget coverage. This is in part a reflection of high payroll and pension
coverage at the provincial level (table 4).
Table 4 Percentage of Total expenditure, Payroll and Pensions Processed Through FABS, 2016/17 

Systems  Share of Total Expenditures   Share of Salaries   Share of Pensions  

Federal   9.8%  35.3%  11.0% 
Punjab  43.6%  84.8%  89.9% 
Sindh  72.2%  96.1%  48.9% 
Khyber 
Pakhtunkhwa  67.5%  98.0%  58.1% 
Baluchistan   68.9%  93.7%  90.5% 
Source: Authors.

14 
 
The conclusion of this breakdown is that at federal level only about 10% of the budget is
subject to system internal ex-ante budget controls. The remaining 90%, including the
majority of salary and pension payments, is handled outside the system. The system can
thus not credibly affect aggregate expenditure control or expenditure targets. As the
payment and reporting is only integrated for those payments transacted through FABS,
the integrity of reporting can only be guaranteed for those 10%.

At the provincial level FMIS coverage is significantly larger ranging from 44% in Punjab
to over 65% for other provinces. Payroll and pension expenditures constitute a large
share of the budget and are well captured by the system. This supports greater overall
expenditure control at this level.

Agencies whose payroll and pensions are processed outside the system should be
brought in. This is true mainly for the federal level where the percentages of the payroll
and pensions processed thru the system are very low. The low percentages for payroll
and pensions at the federal level are due to the fact that defense does not use the FMIS.
The pension figures for Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are low because not all
pension payments in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are done through the FMIS and
still follow the legacy PPO process.

Analysis of the Pakistan Expenditure Transaction Profile 
Assessing the transaction profile in more detail reveals that most non-salary
transactions processed by the system are of low value and don’t make up a large share
of the budget. At the federal level, non-HR related transactions smaller than PKR 10,000
make up 40% of the budget and the percentage of transactions below PKR 20,000 is
about 50% for the center and all provinces. However, all of these transactions together
only make up between 0.4% and 1.5% of non-HR related disbursement through the
system. Conversely, high value transactions (>PKR 500,000) are few across all systems
but make up a large share of the budget as detailed in table 5. The entire transaction
profiles for non-HR related expenditure processed through FABS for the federal
government and for each of the provinces are given at Annex I.
Table 5 Analysis of Transactions Profile in Pakistan 

   Share of High  Share of the Total  Total Number  No of High Value 

Value  Non‐HR Related  of  Transactions > PKR 
Transactions  Disbursement  Transactions  500,000 
Processed 
Through FABS  
Federal Government  3.65%  87.31%  625,596  22,823 
Punjab  3.85%  73.8%  861,031  33,197 

15 
 
 Sindh  9.07%  89.2%  571,189  51,823 
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  5.8%  87.1%  339,248  19,605 
Balochistan  3.67%   85.8%   239,708  8,797 
Total  2,636,772  136,245 
Note: High value transactions were defined as PKR >500,000.
Source: Authors:

On receipt of these figures, GOP staff have carried out a detailed analysis of what
transactions are processed through the system at the center and the provinces in ex-ante
mode and what is excluded. Coverage at the federal level for example is very low across
the board and could be improved.

At the federal level defense and railways related expenditures are left out. Further the
MOF needs to process all transactions which it currently carries out directly by
communicating with the Central Bank, through the system in ex-ante mode. The items
that are currently excluded are shown in table 6 below.
Table 6 Budget Items Not Routed Through the FMIS at the Federal Level 

Item   Share of the Budget  
Debt Servicing (Domestic and Foreign)                                30.6%  
Capital Budget                                18.4%  
Transfers and Subsidies to State Owned Enterprises                                  4.8%  
Loans and Transfers to Province and Others                                  1.7%  
Postal Department                                  0.1%  
Foreign Affairs                                  0.4%  
Source: Authors

At the provincial level there are also steps that could be taken to expand budget
coverage. Here, the main reasons for the gap between total disbursement and that
carried through the FMIS are that loans/transfers and debt service transactions are not
routed through the FMIS and development spending is transacted through assignment
accounts. Checks written by the accounting officers of these agencies are posted in the
FMIS ex-post. These payments are currently done through the assignment accounts and
need to be carried out directly through the FMIS instead. In Punjab the figures for
loans/transfers and debt service are also higher than the other provinces. These items
could be brought into the workflow of the FMIS and would significantly improve the
coverage of the system and therefore its effectiveness. The budget share of categories
not routed through the FMIS in provinces is given shown in table 6 below.

16 
 
Table 6 Budget Share of Categories Not Routed Through FABS 

   Transfers/Loans  Debt Service  Development spending 

Punjab  10.8%  2.9%  38.0% 
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  2.6%  1.8%  38.1% 
Sindh  7.2%  3.9%  36.8% 
Baluchistan  5.3%  1.3%  51.1% 
Source: Authors.

The Problem of Capturing Transactions Ex‐Post 
The Government of Pakistan informed while some transactions (as outlined below) may
be out of the normal workflow, monthly data on them is still being captured into the
SAP data-warehouse of FABS and a dashboard report produced for the Secretary
Finance Division. These include

(i) Domestic Debt figures are captured on a weekly basis from Central
Directorate of National Savings (the data from saving centers across the country
is entered into the central system at CDNS on weekly basis and is pulled-in into
the IFMIS through an automated solution).

(ii) External debt data is being captured into FMIS at the same time as it is
updated in DMFAS, through entry into a SAP terminal made available at
Economic Affairs Division (this arrangement has been implemented as an
alternative to interface with DMFAS).

(iii) Data on tax receipts from Federal Board of Revenue on a daily basis through
optic-fiber linkage with database of FBR.

Daily expenditure data from SAEs like National Highway Authority is also being
captured into system ex-post as cheques of NHA come to AGPR for endorsement and
data is entered into the SAP system. Daily expenditure statement of Pakistan Public
Works department is entered into the FMIS ex-post from its 58 formations. Similar steps
are being taken to extend this process to capturing daily expenditure data ex-post from
Pakistan Post.

However, while this methodology may suffice for getting adequate up to date reports,
these transactions would not have been subject to FMIS based ex-ante budget control.
This means that for a particularly of expenditure, e.g. debt or even for the subsidies to
the State-owned enterprises and the expenditure carried out by the SAEs no FMIS based
budget control is being exercised. While it is understood that this is supposed to be
done by the various entities that are generating the transactions in an off-line mode, this

17 
 
process leaves open the possibility that the expenditure can exceed the budget
allocation. This is especially true of the debt, subsidies transactions that are carried out
by the MOF itself.

In practice what happens in these cases is that the budget ceilings for these categories
(or for any other categories where this control is not exercised in ex- ante mode) are
exceeded and the government regularizes these expenditures by passing
supplementary budgets. However, this means that the sanctity of the annual budget
law as passed by the parliament goes by the way side and has de facto little meaning.
Instead the MOF in effect remakes the budget during the course of budget execution.
This can be avoided by routing these transactions through the FMIS and exercising ex-
ante budget control on them.

3.2. The Cambodia Case

Background 
Cambodia has recently completed Phase I of implementing an FMIS and embarked on
Phase II of the implementation which expands the scope and functionality of the
system. Phase I of the reform focused on core functional processes and modules that
cater to core budget execution processes and processing of payments and receipts
transactions across government before going on to other, non-core, elements. Systems
deployment was restricted in the first instance to MEF departments that were involved
in the budget execution process for all types of expenditures including the actual
payment and subsequent reconciliation with bank accounts where government funds
were housed.

For this the government has acquired the application software package, PeopleSoft;
parameterized it for its requirements and installed it at a central server in the MEF. By
mid-2016 the central offices of the MEF including the GDNT (Accounting Department),
GDSNAF, Budget, FAD, DI, DCDM were all connected to the system through remote
terminals. FMIS had also been implemented at all 25 provincial treasuries (PTs).
Transactions for the districts and communes were processed at the respective PT.

At the end of Phase I, the core functionality of the FMIS related to budget execution was
in place with the implementation of the Budget Allocation (BA), General Ledger (GL),
Accounts Payable (AP), Accounts Receivables (AR), Purchase Order (PO), and Cash
Management (CM) modules. This enables full implementation of comprehensive
transaction processing including recording all phases of the transaction from Procure to
Pay (P2P) and comprehensive report generation facilities. At the central level the

18 
 
transaction processing includes all stages of the ‘procure to pay’ process. At the
provincial level payments are made on the basis of invoices only.

Starting in January 2018, system roll-out has now progressed to include 10 Line
Ministry Central offices and 12 Level 1 Budget Entities. The 10 Ministries include the
Ministries of Education, Youth and Sports Health; Agriculture; Forestry and Fisheries;
Labor and Vocational Training; Environment; and five others. Of the 12 Level 1 budget
entities, six are in the MEF and the remaining six in the Ministry of Environment.

In 2019 an additional 10 ministries, 20 level 1 budget entities and the 25 Provincial

Finance Departments will be connected. This will add another 460 users to the system.
Configuration of the system, including user access matrices, training activities, and
provision of workstations for the next tranche of the rollout, is underway. The rollout
of the core FMIS modules to the remaining line ministries and Level 1 budget entities is
planned to be completed in 2020.

The Information architecture of the Cambodia FMIS is shown below.

Figure 4 Cambodia Information Systems Architecture for Fiscal Management 

 
Source: Authors.

19 
 
FMIS Budgetary Coverage 
Information on the total number of expenditure transactions processed through it in a
given period (e.g. an FY) and the amount of budgetary resources transacted by these
transactions give the extent of its use and scope of its coverage. When these figures are
calculated for the center and the provinces or other subnational levels of government
separately, they provide information on the percentage of budgetary resources spent at
the center and the percentage at the provinces.

The total amounts processed through the FMIS represent a high percentage of the total
domestically financed budget for 2017 and this shows that the coverage of the FMIS is
very good on an overall basis. Donor funds are not processed through the FMIS at
present.

Table 8 shows that 62.9 % of the budgetary amounts are transacted at the National level
and 37.1% at the provinces. However, the total number of transactions processed at the
national level is only 8.7% compared to 91% at the provinces. This suggests that this
area needs to be investigated further. This has been done and the reason for this
disparity are explained below by looking at the granularity of the transaction data.
Table 8 Total Amount Processed through the FMIS and Values they Represent 

Total no of  Share of total  Total amount  Share of the total 

  transactions  no  (Riels)  amount 
National level  19,004  8.70%         12,794,095M   62.90% 
Provincial 
treasuries  198,470  91.30%  7,530,580M  37.10% 
Total  217,474  100%         20,324,676M  100% 
Source: Authors.

Analysis of the Cambodia Expenditure Transaction Profile 
It is observed that only 15% central expenditure transactions in 2017 are below $2,500 or
10 million Riel, while 71.6% of the Provincial transactions are below 10 m Riel or $2500.
From this appears that at the central level the system may be used mainly for drawing
out advances from Treasury which are then processed off-line. This can be tested to
determine the granularity of the transactions. The transaction profiles for Cambodia are
given at Annex II.

The granularity of the transactions would then show whether there is a wider control
problem with the payment approval process in the country. In this case the line
ministries and SUs would resort to taking advances, since it takes an inordinate time to
process payment requests through the Treasury.

20 
 
The petty cash and project advance data for 2018 is shown in the attached figure. The
total amounts are a relatively modest percentage of the total disbursements. The petty
cash process, when limited to small amounts on an overall basis and a low individual
transaction threshold, is generally a good way for developing countries to provide easy
access to small amounts of money to SUs like schools and health clinics and has a
positive impact on service delivery.
Figure 5 Advances as Percent of Total Disbursements 

 16.0
13.9 
 14.0 12.7 
 12.0 10.9 
Percentage

 10.0
 8.0
 6.0
 4.0 2.8  3.3 
2.5 
 2.0
 ‐
%of total %of total %of total
Total Center Provinces

 Petty Cash  Project Advance

Source: Authors.

An analysis of the frequency distribution of project and program advances and of petty
cash advances was therefore done (see Annex II for details). From it, the following is
evident:

- 83% of the advances are below 100M Riels or US$25,000;

- 25% of the Petty Cash advances at Center are above 400M riel or US$100,000; and
- At the provinces 95% are below 100M Riel or US$25,000.

Some petty cash transactions are quite large. Out of a total of 4,098 petty cash
transactions in the first 4 months of 2018, only 100 transactions which are more than
400,000,000 Riel would constitute almost half of the total amount 199 billion i.e. 98
billion Riel. Out of these 10 transactions 27 take place at the center and 73 at the
provinces. In 2017 a total of 11,775 petty cash transactions took place totaling to 506
billion Riel or about 2.55 % of the total amount disbursed. However, of these, 251
transactions were above 400 million Riel or $ 100,000 and totaled 205 billion Riel or 40%
of the total. 242 of these high value transactions took place at the center and 9 at the
provinces.

21 
 
The 400 million Riel used as a threshold is significant for Cambodia. Transactions above
that should preferably not be routed through the petty cash process. However, some
line ministries and sector departments continue to take out these large petty cash
advances and distribute these to their subordinate units. To improve this situation, the
advance could specify the spending units and the amounts it will be distributed to.

In addition to petty cash advances, line agencies can also apply and get program
advances for line items which are not eligible for petty cash advances. Together, these
two can constitute up to 50% of the non-salary part of the recurrent budget of the line
agency.

Cambodia still uses petty cash for small payments and advances for investment
expenditure. Usually excessive use of these instruments points to delays and
complications in the regular payment process. They also imply inefficient cash
management and are a risk factor for misuse of funds. Use of these payment modalities
avoids the ex-ante control of payments that is part of Cambodia’s expenditure control
system.

The entire process of using advances for a major part of the recurrent expenditure is
necessitated by the fact that on average it takes about three weeks to process an
expenditure transaction through the normal payment process and agencies adopt these
alternative methods to avoid these delays. However, adoption of this method implies
that a major part of the recurrent budget of a line agency is spent without ex-ante
control. Further, since the expenditure is allocated to a particular program, sub-
program, activity, only at the time the advance is settled, the expenditure reports from
FMIS do not reflect the full expenditure at these levels before the advances have been
settled. Given a country’s institutional capacities, the use of these instruments often
cannot be totally avoided until new payment processes, or payment methods
(debit/credit cards instead of petty cash) are developed.

One option to improve such a situation would be for MEF to establish a threshold size
for petty cash usage. For that it would be necessary to investigate the sources of the
high-value transactions and the reasons for their occurrence while developing a policy
for the usage of the petty cash process. In addition, it should be ensured that these
advances are settled promptly. In some countries spending units requiring access to
small amounts of money have been given purchase cards with limits for the total
amount that can be spent and on an individual transaction. The feasibility of
introducing this or similar methods can be explored over the medium-term.

22 
 
A recent IMF mission had recommended that business processes, including
procurement, need to be reviewed from end to end to ensure they are efficient, timely,
and that the appropriate levels of controls are in place, given risks. The processes
should also be optimized to use the FMIS as was intended. The FMIS is a significant
investment, and controls in FMIS are much more effective than those undertaken
manually. There were also expectations that system-based controls would eliminate
many of the manual controls that currently exist, but line ministries report that
processing steps have increased with the FMIS, as the manual process is largely
unchanged from their perspective.

4. Discussion and Conclusions

FMIS systems constitute an essential part of budget management. They help execute the
budget and implement policy. The question of how FMIS systems are used is naturally
an important one to pursue. It gives an indication of a government’s willingness to
pursue systematic expenditure control and confidence to civil society that reported
expenditures reflect actual payments. FMIS investments are costly and take a long time
to deploy. If used properly these investments will most likely render a high return and
can act as the backbone for effective public expenditure management. If not used
properly however, they are the epitome of isomorphic mimicry: giving the illusion of
prudent expenditure management that gives legitimacy without providing for the
underlying core functionality.

This paper develops a methodology to assess how FMIS systems are used, by analyzing
the government expenditure transaction ecosystem – the foundation of all government
expenditure reporting. An assessment at this level of detail can point toward
deficiencies in utilization practices that could be strengthened and have a real effect on
improved expenditure management in a short period of time. This is shown through the
use of two case studies, Pakistan and Cambodia which have revealed completely
different issues and the results of the analysis could be used to identify specific steps
that need to be taken to focus further reform efforts. More generally, it appears that
there is a need to take another look at the implementation of the FMIS systems and their
deployment strategies.

One observation this study confirms is that few transactions tend to make up a high
share of the budget. This is the case for both Pakistan and Cambodia, as well as a larger
set of countries the authors have data for (see table 9). Thus, if the FMIS does not
capture some of these transactions (as was the case in Pakistan), the FMIS will forgo the
opportunity to control such high-risk expenditures at very low cost. Similarly, the

23 
 
number of low value transactions routed through the FMIS is revealing. If, as was the
case in Cambodia, these are few in number it raises the question of how these are
actually executed. Large project or program advances routed through the FMIS will still
give expenditure control at the aggregate level, but the FMIS does not provide for the
integrity in expenditure data it otherwise would and cannot guarantee funds were
actually spent according to appropriations. Pakistan and Cambodia do not appear to be
isolated cases. Low budget capture was also identified as a problem in Bangladesh and
Ghana, and the issue relating to advances in Somalia and Sierra Leone.
Table 9 Transactions Data for a Select Group of Countries 

Transaction  Share of  Share of the 

Country  type  Threshold  Transactions  Budget 
China, Central  High value  > US$ 78,250  2.1%  69.0% 
Government (2015)  Low value  < US$ 1,564  69.0%  2.7% 
High value  >US$ 43,800  1.8%  75.0% 
Vietnam (2015) 
Low value  < US$ 2,190  78.5%  4.3% 
High value  > US$ 10,000  7.8%  93.0% 
Philippines (2017) 
Low value  < US$ 2,000  79.8%  2.2% 
High value  > US$ 25,000  8.6%  86.0% 
Afghanistan (2017) 
Low value  < US$ 1,000  55.0%  1.1% 
High value      > US$25,000   7.7%   70.0%  
Laos, PDR (2017) 
Low value  < US$ 1,000  43.4%  1.2% 
Source: Authors.

In practice, if one can determine the threshold of transactions that would yield high
budget coverage (e.g. 90-95%), then it would be possible to target ex-ante control to
those transactions. This would ensure high coverage, and provide confidence in a
government’s commitment to fiscal expenditure rules.

The following provides two examples of how this information could guide an effective
expenditure management reform.

(i) A risk based and sequenced deployment strategy. Formulate system deployment
and control strategies that focus on high value transactions. Such a strategy would
enable expedited results during the implementation of FMIS systems early in the
roll-out phase. Once the principle of this selective control is agreed the following
steps could be pursued:

- Ensure that all transactions generated at the central MOF such as fiscal transfers,
subsidies, and debt service payments, are routed through the central FMIS
system;

24 
 
 - Ensure that all receipts are recorded in the system;

- Ensure that all payroll, and civil service pension payments calculated by a central
system are routed through the central system (these would likely constitute some
30-40% of the total budget); and

- Ensure all payments from line ministries or spending units above the transaction
threshold are routed through the central system.

Such a deployment strategy would take less time and take a fraction of the cost of a
traditional deployment strategy that aims at comprehensive coverage. This focused
risk-based strategy could be the first phase of a more comprehensive FMIS reform
engagement with tangible results early in the process. It would also be useful for
audit departments in developing a risk-based audit methodology. Donors could
support such a phased implementation process and secure financing of the second
phase conditional successful completion of the first.

(ii) Develop a differentiated risk-based control strategy. Here a purposeful decision is

made to subject low value transactions to less stringent ex- ante control than high
value transactions. This would enable easier access to small amounts of money that
spending units need for their day to day operational needs. Such a strategy could be
most useful for service delivery sectors with rapidly changing needs such as health
or education. Such a strategy would preempt a situation where health clinics or
schools struggle to access small amounts of funds in a timely manner because of
excessively rigid controls. The calculation of the expenditure transaction profile for a
country would enable a method to propose a low value threshold for such
operations and also to assess the total "exposure or risk" of processing these
transactions on an ex-post control basis. Various methods could be used to facilitate
the access to small amounts of money to SUs and the processing of low value
transactions. For example:

- Issue of purchase cards with limits on the total amount and the size of individual
transactions, to selected staff and mangers of these units. This would be the
preferred modality as it would not compromise the integrity of the transaction if
interfaced appropriately with the FMIS;

- Leveraging the banking system whereby small amounts of money can be

transacted through designated banks which are reimbursed ex-post. This would
be a modification of the classical imprest account process.

25 
 
Annex I – Pakistan Transactions Profile
Transactions Profile for Pakistan at the Federal Government (FY 2016/17‐ Amount Ranges in Pakistan 
Rupees). 

PAKISTAN ‐ FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ‐ 2016‐2017

NON HR RELATED EXPENDITURE
Cumulative % by number Cumulative percenage by amount 2 per. Mov. Avg. (Cumulative % by number) 2 per. Mov. Avg. (Cumulative percenage by amount)

100.000 

100.000 
99.947 

99.977 

99.999 
99.758 
99.223 
97.962 
96.352 
86.795 

73.646 
71.631 
PERCENTAGE

53.378 

49.084 
42.936 
38.137 

29.534 
21.873 
16.206 
12.686 
6.498 
2.940 
1.161 
0.493 

PAKISTAN RUPEES

Transactions Profile for the Pakistan Province of Punjab (FY 2016/17‐ Amount Ranges in Pakistan Rupees).
PUNJAB 

100.000 

100.000 
99.975 

99.990 
99.815 
99.189 
98.012 
96.145 
87.214 

86.965 
80.434 
74.393 

62.208 
PRCENTAGE

52.790 

44.945 
36.419 

34.179 
26.184 
12.887 
6.897 
2.421 
1.008 

PKR

26 
 
Transactions Profile for the Pakistan Province of Sindh (FY 2016/17‐ Amount Ranges in Pakistan Rupees). 

100.000 

100.000 
99.939 
99.876 
99.335 
97.421 
SINDH

94.216 
90.927 
76.206 
66.918 

65.184 
57.743 
PERCENTAGE

43.092 

39.034 
26.486 

23.609 
14.953 
10.832 
3.270 
2.050 
0.674 
0.253 

PHR

Series1 Series2 2 per. Mov. Avg. (Series1) 2 per. Mov. Avg. (Series2)

Transactions Profile for the Pakistan Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (FY 2016/17‐ Amount Ranges in 
Pakistan Rupees).

KP
Series1 Series2 2 per. Mov. Avg. (Series1) 2 per. Mov. Avg. (Series2)

100.000 

100.000 
99.954 
99.912 
99.670 
99.050 
96.758 
94.221 
84.805 
70.638 

57.255 
PERCENTAGE

54.286 

49.171 
41.182 

34.628 
27.183 
17.893 
12.900 
5.792 
2.425 
1.039 
0.532 

PKR

27 
 
Transactions Profile for the Pakistan Province of Baluchistan (FY 2016/17‐ Amount Ranges in Pakistan 
Rupees). 

BALUCHISTAN
2 per. Mov. Avg. () 2 per. Mov. Avg. () 2 per. Mov. Avg. ()

100.000 

100.000 
99.954 

99.973 
99.737 
98.862 
97.809 
96.330 
87.525 
72.324 
PERCENTAGE

55.600 
51.146 
48.351 

37.129 
33.500 

23.239 
17.646 
14.167 
7.614 
3.893 
1.219 
0.490 

PKR

28 
 
Annex II – Cambodia Transactions Profile
Cambodia Expenditure Transactions Profile, Central Government, 2017 ‐ Amounts Ranges in Riels. 

100 95.3 97.6 99.9 100.0

88.4
90 80.9
80 72.2
70
59.0
Percentage

60
50 40.7 39.4
40 29.6
27.2
30
20 15.9
7.8 9.3
10 2.7 5.6
0.0 0.1 0.4 0.9
0
< 4m 4 ‐ 10m 10 ‐ 20m 20 ‐ 40m 40 ‐ 100m 100 ‐ 200 ‐ 400 ‐ 2,000 ‐ 4,000 ‐ >=
200m 400m 2,000m 4,000m 100,000m 100,000m
Riels

Cumulative Percent Transactions Cumulative Percent Amount

Cambodia Expenditure Transaction Profile, Provincial Treasuries, 2017‐ Amount Ranges in Riels. 

100 91.6 96.5 98.1 98.8 99.7 99.8 100.0 100.0

90 84.5
80 71.6
66.0
70
Percentage

56.9
60
46.8
50
40 35.5
30.0
30 24.0
16.1
20 10.7
6.1
10 1.7
0
< 4m 4 ‐ 10m 10 ‐ 20m 20 ‐ 40m 40 ‐ 100m 100 ‐ 200 ‐ 400 ‐ 2,000 ‐ 4,000 ‐ >=
200m 400m 2,000m 4,000m 100,000m 100,000m
Riels

Cumulative Percent Transactions Cumulative % Amount

29 
 
Cambodia Expenditure Transaction Profile, Advances, 2017‐ Amount Ranges in Riels. 

100 97.84 98.83 100.00 100.00

87.21 89.32
90 83.98
80 75.02
70 65.04
Percentage

57.22 54.36
60
50 42.47 42.45
40
30
20 10.07
5.19 7.30
10 0.32 0.76 1.28 2.71
0

Riels

Cumulative Percent Transactions Cumulative Percent Amount

30 
 
Cambodia Expenditure Transactions Profile, Central Government Petty Cash Advances, 2017 Amount 
Ranges in Riels.
100 98.5 99.9 100.0 100.0
88.9
90

80 75.6

70

60
Percentage

47.9
50

40 36.9

30
22.2
20 14.5

10 7.5
2.6 3.4
0.60.0 0.90.0 0.1 0.5
0

Riels 

Cumulative Percent Transactions Cumulative Percent Amount

Cambodia Expenditure Transaction Profile, Provincial Government Petty Cash Advances, 2017‐ Amount 
Ranges in Riels.
100 95.8 98.3 99.5 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
88.9 85.7
90 79.7
80 68.0 71.2
70
55.3
Percent

60
50
40 35.3
27.0 23.0
30
20 15.2
10 3.2
0

Riels

Cumulative Percent Transactions Cumulative Percent Amount

31 
 
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