National Treasury: Human Performance

BAS, a user-friendly, online, real-time custom-built financial system was developed by Accenture to address the needs of the National Treasury. The project started with the Department of Finance in 1993 and currently involves maintenance, support, further development and ongoing implementations.

The need to improve financial management in the South African government prompted the move to a Basic Accounting System (BAS) at national and provincial departments. The previous system needed to be replaced because:

• In operation since 1974, it was based on old technology.
• Being batch-driven, online validation and authorisation were not possible.
• Online reporting, for management information purposes, was not available.

Accenture built strong relationships with senior executives at National Treasury to drive through rigorous analysis, design and construction of BAS. The project started with the Department of Finance in 1993 and currently involves maintenance, support, further development and ongoing implementations.

BAS is a user-friendly, online, real-time custom-built financial system, which meets the exact requirements of the SA government. It runs on new technology in a distributed client/server environment and integrates classroom training, online help and supports effective workflow management.

Innovative web-based applications were developed to improve support services to departments and a state-of-the art contact centre (LOGIK) manages service requests from 9 600 BAS users. A financial performance toolkit was developed to measure and report on the efficiency of financial management.

The application is live in 50 percent of National Departments and will be implemented in the remainder by April 2003. The custom-developed implementation process proactively builds capacity in departments through continuous use of training and on-site user support initiatives.

Major benefits include:

• Significant improvement in financial administration as a result of improved access to real-time, accurate and flexible financial management reports;
• Online validation and authorisation improve internal controls and reduce fraud and error rates;
• An average of 90 percent of departments close accounting periods within the legislated five working days after month end;
• In support of National Treasury Black Economic Empowerment initiatives, a minimum of 25 percent of revenues generated from the BAS programme accrue to these previously disadvantaged firms that are subcontracted to Accenture on the BAS project;
• BAS has been enhanced to address the requirements of generally recognised accounting practice. These enhancements include Commitments and Liabilities for accrual accounting;
• The Public Finance management Act (PFMA) requires public officials to assume increased accountability and responsibility for finances under their control. Formal classroom training and support teams contribute to capacity building within Departments, enabling officials to comply with the requirements of the PFMA;
• Support for implementation of uniform expenditure classifications enabling consolidated reporting;
• Enhanced cash flow management as a result of Electronic Bank Transfers where on average 95 percent of all national department payments and 98 percent of the monetary value of these payments are processed utilising this functionality;
• Rapid two-month implementation utilising the implementation Strategy Package; and
• Superior customer service as indicated by a BAS user satisfaction rating of 85 percent.