New Financial Management Act to Implement soon

(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – New Financial Management Act (FMA) with financial transparency and performance efficiency will soon be implemented by the government said Mahinda Siriwardena Secretary to the Treasury.

The proposed FMA is in the process of being finalization and its key features will be to improve the responsible physical management process when handling country’s public finances and to take substantial decisions based on efficient resource utilization. It will also focus on sustainable finance with a process of taking environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, when making investment decisions leading to more economical activities and projects. He further explained that FMA will strengthen transparent financial systems, effective performance management by allowing managers to manage and making them accountable for their responsible projects.

Siriwardena stressed that a change in the accounting and reporting standards is mandatory to promote public sector accountability. “We need the reforms where required as we see weaknesses of governance both in public and private sectors in our country. The public sector reform includes many changes in the current practices and systems and which will result in plenty of public benefits after implementation. The new Financial Management Act follows international standards in the application of implementing national policies, strengthening physical sustainability and credibility, providing an accurate and reliable perspective of nation’s public finance” said Siriwardena.

Secretary to the Treasury, attending as the chief guest of the Association of Public Finance Accountants of Sri Lanka (APFASL) annual conference, at BMICH on Friday, told the higher ranking financial professionals of the public sector that “as responsible senior officers of the government, when handling finances you should seriously consider that from revenue to the expenditure; all belongs to the people of the country. When dealing with their money right financial policies should be implemented at the right time covered with right legal system and you should provide unbiased right guidance and right recommendations to the top of the government to trigger political consistency & stability.

He also defined the role of government accounting professionals are not limited only to accounting but it requires covering a wide area as they are responsible for the final policy decisions of the country. He said it is the duty of the government to offer maximum benefit to the general public when dealing with public funds.

(BY CLAUDE GUNASEKERA)

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