Issue 01/2010Project to Improve FinancialReporting and Auditing

Message by Project Director PIFRAPIFRA is engaged in promoting transparency, accountability, and professionalism in public financial management. We have modernized account keeping by providing IT resources, professional knowledge, general infrastructure and development of human resources. We also facilitate capacity building among stakeholders to improve accuracy, comprehensiveness reliability , and timeliness of financial reporting. This helps in enhancing capacity of public sector managers to use real-time credible financial information for informed decision-making.

There has been significant impact of our enabling efforts on overall working environment of Finance, Accounts, and Audit organizations. The Project has almost completed its assigned task and it will now be up to the stakeholders and their resource persons to take ultimate ownership of the infrastructure and knowledge base, for sustained implementation of the system reforms. I would urge end-users of all organizations concerned to take keen interest in accepting change resulting from the new business processes and our capacity building initiatives. We need your personal support for ultimate transition of the system from PIFRA to your organization.

Suhail AhmadProject Director PIFRA

WhatsWhats inside .......inside .......

Public Expenditure & Financial

Accountability (PEFA) Rating2

Important Events

PIFRA Reforms Continue

Achievement Highlights

Feature Article - 1

Feature Article - 2

Audit Competency Center

Achievements

Development Activities

Training Achievements

Frequently Asked Questions

Job Analysis Schedule of

a Housewife

Facilitators of Change

Letter from the Editor

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NewsletterPIFRA Reforms More Than you ThinkPIFRA Reforms More Than you Think

The Assembly evaluated the best article published in the ASOSAI Conference Chaired by PakistanJournal over the last three years covers in ASOSAI Journal. thThe 11 Asian Organization of Supreme Audit The article was produced by Mr Tanweer Ahmed Director thInstitution (ASOSAI) Assembly and the 4 ASOSAI General of SAI Pakistan on Problems of Risk Assessment in

Symposium were held from October 12-15, 2009 at Group Financial Statements and published in October Islamabad. 138 delegates from thirty one member 2007 issue of the Journal. Supreme Audit Institutions, observers from

thThe selected topic for the 4 symposium was The Role of International Organization of Supreme Audit SAIs in Enhancing Effectiveness of Public Expenditure. Panel Institution (INTOSAI), and INTOSAI Development presentations were made by representatives of SAIs Initative (IDI) - INTOSAI participated in the event. The which was followed by a lively question and answer first plenary session of ASOSAI Assembly also session in which delegates from different countries featured transfer of Chair of ASOSAI, from Mr. Jiayi Liu, actively participated to share their knowledge with their Auditor General of Chinese National Audit office to colleagues. At the end of the proceedings, Mr. Tanwir Ali Mr. Tanwir Ali Agha, Auditor General of Pakistan. On Agha, Chairman, ASOSAI, thanked all the participants for this occasion, the new Chairman assured the ASOSAI their great interest and participation in the day's members that his priority would be to carry the

thproceedings. With this the 4 ASOSAI symposium was mission forward within the framework of ASOSAI concluded. The keynote address was followed by the Charter and with the cooperation, assistance and special reports presented by the Auditors-General of support of all members of the ASOSAI family and its some selected ASOSAIs. strategic partners.

Important Events

Aspiring for higher standardPublic Expenditure & Financial Accountability (PEFA) Rating

In view of continued reforms in public sector management, especially on the auditing side, the Government's PEFA rating has increased from “D” in 2005-06 to “C+” in 2007-08 and is expected to be further elevated to “B” for 2008-09. This has been achieved with continued professional reform initiatives in the auditing activities, right from the planning to the reporting stages.

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The quest for quality depends on the inner

Feelings of employees. How employees feel about

their job, about their organization and about their

bosses' influence, their behavior in delivering.

Organizations which have won quality awards

have to sustain their standards over a very long

period and the sustainability depends on

employees' conviction in what they do, and their

commitment. They have to trust their organizations

in recognizing their efforts and it's the trust within

the organizations that motivates them.

(Sultan Kermally, Total Management Thinking).

The Quest for Quality

During February 2010 a special review of the Project was conducted by the World Bank's Implementation Review Mission Team. Appreciable progress has been achieved in the following areas:

! Financial Accounting & Budgeting System (FABS): Key milestones achieved include capture of transaction data for works in NWFP, Punjab and Sindh, initiation of commitment accounting, mandatory use of the bill tracking system, and introduction of project accounting. Commitment accounting has been implemented at the Federal level and 3 provinces in mid-December 2009, a commendable achievement by all parties. The existing threshold of Rs.0.5 million will be reduced to Rs.0.2 million from July 2010.

! Auditing: This is the first year in the history of the country that annual financial statements with audit reports of the Federation and the provinces have been submitted to the President and Governors on February 25, 2010, reducing the submission time from 22 months to 8 months. This is a landmark achievement.

PIFRA Reforms Continue

! Outcome Monitoring & Evaluation: PIFRA is on

track to achieve or exceed the four core direct

outcomes including, effective and transparent

fiscal management, effective and transparent

financial reporting control and audit, poverty

reduction, and reducing corruption and

inefficiencies. Once system-generated reports are

fully established, they will greatly streamline the

processes of analysis and review of fiscal reporting

and its implementation.

Sustainability of PIFRA Reforms

The Project was originally set to close from December 31, 2010. However, it was agreed by all the major stakeholders that there was a need to scale up the reforms being delivered under the Project, create better conditions for sustainability of the outcomes already being realized, and allow for completion of ongoing activities related to the continued operation and maintenance of installed public financial management systems. It was also realized that while performances in the public financial management systems (PFM) and practices in Pakistan have been elevated significantly through PIFRA-related reforms, there still remain some reform initiatives that can be substantially completed under a consolidation phase of PIFRA.

During high level deliberations of the case for two-year consolidation phase of PIFRA, representatives of major stakeholders, including the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh, explicitly appreciated the impact of PIFRA initiatives. The proposal for additional financing was ultimately approved providing PIFRA the opportunity to decentralize its major activities and seek ownership of the systems by the concerned stakeholders during the two year period, i.e. 2011-2012. During this period, the project will be in the transition form, involving special role of the stakeholders in taking ownership of PIFRA system and reforms.

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A total of 1.835 million employees' payroll was Bajour at Khar has been completed and the sites computerized till April 2010. Budget & accounts of h a v e b e e n m a d e p r o d u c t i v e . District (except Balochistan), Provincial, & Federal Construction/refurbishment of computer labs at governments are now available in the system. District Accounts Offices Kohistan at Dassu and FABS has produced physical tables on GFSM Agency Accounts office Khyber at Jamrud has coding, for the first time from the system, through been completed.mapping of Chart of Accounts with GFS chart.

In Balochistan, workflow has been introduced in eight Treasury Offices, despite strong among Regional Extension of FABSchampions of the legacy system. Three additional

In AJK, FABS has been introduced by running HR- sites of Ziarat, Zhob and Loralai are planned to be Payroll Module in the DAOs of Muzaffarabad, developed by the end of May 2010. Work on Neelam and Bajaur. Civil works, computer development of the remaining 14 sites is planned hardware and connectivity at 6 DAOs and AG to be started by July 2010. LAN/WAN installation of Office has been completed. 20 line departments have been complemented.

Pension data has been completely uploaded in the system in respect of 27 districts of Balochistan. Besides, GPF data of Quetta and Uthal payrolls has been fully uploaded in SAP.

AG Punjab Initiatives & Progress

For subscribers' convenience, one window operation has been launched. The facility involves budget check at the token level, complete utilization of the bill tracking aimed at timely processing of claims, pension cases through the system. Budget Execution Reports (BERs) are now being generated on monthly basis and forwarded

thto the Principal Accounting Officers (PAOs) on 15 of every month. In its Business Process Re-Engineering initiatives, AG Punjab has created a model payroll section operating exclusively on SAP. Pension sections have been remodeled after complete up-dating of historical data and GPF accounting and payments systems have been completed automated.

In Sindh, all line departments of the provincial Mid-Term Budgetary Framework Roll-Outgovernment have been connected to PIFRA in the

SAP solution will be able to absorb MTBF business shape of networking, provision of hardware and process into its existing budgeting software training. solution to cater for the MTBF requirement for 56

In Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa computerization of ministries of the Federal Government.agency Accounts Offices Orakzai at Hangu and

Achievement HighlightsFinancial Accounting & Budgeting System (FABS)

Who’s Job is it? PIFRA or the End-Users?

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done to improve customer service and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it. But Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody, when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Source: Unknown

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During September - December 2009 : Change management workshops at Multan, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad were completed for the DAOs of three regions. During the sessions, focus group discussions were conducted with the view to create awareness and identify solutions to key challenges of PIFRA reforms introduced in district accounts offices.

a c h i e ve m e n t w a s m a te r i a l i ze d by t h e Financial & Fiscal Reportingunprecedented efforts of our financial reporting PIFRA has designed final reports of monthly Civil specialists, resource persons and dedicated Accounts of the Federal Government on SAP officials of the AGPR Computer Wing.system and the book solution has been replaced

with this new format. Now federal monthly civil AG Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Launches Websiteaccount is submitted on 10th of following month

The new website of AG KPK provides useful online which is a substantial improvement in timeliness information and services to all the stakeholders of financial reporting. Similarly, fiscal operation including Government departments, employees statement has been prepared on the System using and the general public. Besides tracking the status budget data of the Federal Government. of bills, history of Service and GPF accounts Comparative statements showing the budgeting information are now available online. The data and actual data are now available on the websites provides access to information including System. Facilitated by PIFRA, AGPR has started budgetary figures of the Provincial Government preparing annual appropriation accounts for FY since 1975, financial statements, Federal taxes 2008-09 from the system. This is a major step collected by the Province. Besides, providing other towards transparent fiscal reporting and efficient useful information about the AG Office, it has a financial management of the government. PIFRA download facility for GPF, pension, payroll, FI and has produced appropriation accounts within two APPM forms.months after completion of the financial year, first

time in the history of the Federal Government. This

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Feature Article-1PIFRA Implementation at

AG Office Punjab: Challenges and InitiativesBy Muhammad Ali Gheba, Dy. Acct. General (Accounts) AG Office Punjab

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PIFRA has changed the way financial reporting is being done in the public sector. However, to ensure sustainability of the new system certain challenges need to be addressed. Majority of the technical cadre staff operating at the transaction level have still not received adequate training for working on SAP. They knowledge of the system is limited only to the specific transactions they perform. Besides, maintenance of manual records with computer transactions has made work quite laborious in many areas. This is mainly because the manual/legacy system transactions have simply been transformed onto the SAP platform without getting rid of the redundant procedures. There is a need to conduct proper system re-engineering to allow efficient and effective operations.

A classic example is the endorsement of works cheques by DAOs'. When Works expenditure was brought online all previous manual transactions were incorporated into the system. It was not envisaged that certain transaction heads like WAS (works audit suspense) would no longer be required as expenditure/receipt would be booked to its final head at the time of transaction.

Another challenge for accounts offices is that the old power houses feel threatened by the system and therefore resist change in the business processes. This is because knowledge of the old system and related procedures was a source of power in the office. With the new computerized environment things have become more transparent and simple and old knowledge cartels have fallen. Moreover for the technical cadre gaining expertise in the system carries no extra benefit. Rather, system related skills usually end up in the person getting tougher assignments.Perhaps the biggest challenge faced by this new system is lack of resources. Undoubtedly, maintaining a computerized integrated database across Pakistan is always going to be more expensive than any previous manual system. IT involves high maintenance. Therefore, the focus should not be on cutting down costs but on increasing the utility of the system. The ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) established by PIFRA is now a reality with regards to the financial management of the Government. We do not have any other option than to keep moving forward.Initiatives to tackle the Challenges

1. Continuous Training: Through a process of on-going periodic training the technical cadre needs to be made familiar with the system.

For example in AG offices the AAOs' should be compulsorily directed to serve in Computer related sections (FI & HR) for at least four

months as a pre-requisite to their promotion.

2. Reporting Variety: The spectrum of reports generated from the system need to be increased to include expenditure profile reports

and project-wise reports tailored specifically to aid the executive in their decision making.

3. Going on the Web: Working on a state of the art ERP requires establishing a proper web-portal. All pay and allowances/deductions

information of government employees should be available online. A comprehensive initiative in this regard is underway in AG Punjab

Office.

4. Talent Recognition: The senior employees may not be skilled in the system, yet they have the wealth of experience which is priceless.

Electronic gadgetry is no substitute for wisdom on how to deal with crisis and emergencies. Similarly youngsters may be given

appropriate incentives to work proficiently in key accounting and system oriented posts..

5. Establishing Liaison Cells: Establishing a liaison cell in the federal secretariat as well as in each provincial secretariat will enhance our

service delivery and enable us to provide tailor-made reports to the executive at their door-step.

6. Getting rid of redundant procedures: For each accounting workflow it needs to be finalized what manual records should be kept

and what should be done away with. Therefore the Business process Re-engineering exercise needs to be very comprehensive and

preferably outsourced in its initial phase.

7. A “NO RUSH” APPROACH: Reforming the public sector is no small matter. Ten years is no time for it. Sixty years down the line and

many people here still ask what Pakistan stands for; accounting is a distant issue.

What has PIFRA Achieved?

There has been a tendency among some stakeholders to raise queries as to what PIFRA has achieved? How is it more economical? Has the

bill processing time reduced? Such queries are usually raised without knowledge or analysis of the system reforms.

PIFRA represents a landmark achievement in the public sector domain. We have successfully implemented a broad based financial

integrated information system. At the click of a button we can now tell how the public money is being apportioned across Pakistan. From

such a platform we can in reality, change the way financial decision making will take place, by providing real-time financial analysis as per

the policy initiatives of the government.

Our focus is not how to pass a bill in one day one hour or ten minutes, like a photocopy machine. Our focus is on how to automate and

streamline all public sector transactions into the system in order to improve fiscal transparency and aid financial management. With time,

the efficiency of our workflow will increase and the processing time will certainly reduce.

For the first time, certified financial statements Prompted by the ACC Islamabad, the Audit and audit reports of the Federal and Provincial Consultants team at ACC Peshawar has assisted the Governments for FY 2007-08 were submitted District Audit staff in preparation of 346 permanent simultaneously while reducing the timelines files in entities across the District Governments in from 22 months to 8 months. Templates have NWFP. Moreover, Reporting files and Working been developed for Annual Audit Plan and for papers have been developed by the team which documentation of audit evidence, to bring have been replicated in other parts of the country uniformity in Annual Audit Planning. Expertise is and are considered to be model files. Another being provided to APR&SD Wing for evaluation significant contribution has been the development of Financial Statements. The Audit Competency of 100 ACL checks which were too considered as Center has also taken a couple of significant model criteria for carrying out country wide Data initiatives including Performance Auditing Sufficiency Analysis.Capacity Building and Information System Auditing.

Audit Competency Center Achievements

In the words of Charles Darwin, the famous English biologist, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”. It is in this context that the Project to Improve Financial Reporting and Auditing (PIFRA) was envisioned. The Project became a success when the end user i.e. the executing tier realized the fact that the envisioned change is for the betterment of the overall process flow and would improve the service delivery. That's where the Change actually happened in the DAGP.

I strongly believe that projects can only be successful if their fruits are seen at the earliest and it shows the desired results. In case of PIFRA reforms, the top to down management of the accounting offices through their dedication and commitment ensured that the project implementation is taken seriously with all the stake holders. The overall working environment was made better and presentable. Focal persons were nominated in every office to ensure the effective implementation. Today, both the senior and the junior staff of the department feels that he has in one way or the other contributed to the project.

The department has a sufficient amount of learning curve available as how the issues specifically pertaining to Change management would be addressed and be eventually resolved. There are a few points need to be catered for, while implementing the ERP system for the Field Audit offices.

1. The AMIS team needs to be cognizant of the fact that all the officers/staff engaged in the auditing process are given due importance while implementing the ERP system. The issues and the problems faced by them need to be addressed completely. This would ensure process ownership and would help in the improvement of the auditing system.

2. Experience of the individuals i.e. Audit officers, Assistant Audit officers, Senior Auditors who have given their lifetime to the Department remains invaluable. Addressing the issues and fears of these individuals should be one of the top priorities of the Project team.

To conclude, everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding, that influences behavior.

Feature Article-2

Managing Change in the System:

Muhammad Afnan Alam, Deputy Director Audit Competency Centre, Peshawar

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Audit Command Language (ACL) FeaturesACL enables auditors to ensure sustainable compliance with international audit standards, reduce risk, detect fraud. The Department of the Auditor General of Pakistan has procured 10 ACL Version 9.1 Licenses which are installed in Audit Competency Centre across Pakistan. Since 2005, several officers/ officials have been trained on ACL in 26 Field Audit Offices and they audited more than 1499 entities across Pakistan. We have successfully audited the SAP/R3 HR Payroll data of AGPR (Including all Ministries) and four AG's Offices of Provincial as well as District Government. Our ACL Master Trainers have developed two ACL Guidelines viz a viz Guidelines on Data Extraction & Analysis (SAP & ACL) Volume-I Payroll and Guidelines on Data Extraction and Analysis (SAP & ACL) Volume-II Expenditure for the Field Audit Offices. As a way forward we are supporting and developing guidelines for those Field Audit Offices who are auditing Self Accounting Entities e.g. PIA, OGDC, SSGC, SSNC and PSO etc. We have also successfully applied ACL on the Sales and Customs data of Federal Board of Revenue and NADRA. Our 12 ACL Master Trainers are always ready to support and train auditors for extracting or importing or analyzing the data in ACL. Our auditors normally use ACL in Certification Audit but it can be performed in Performance as well as compliance with authority audit, if soft data is available. The benefits of ACL include data integrity and trend analysis, sampling for auditing, logging of every audit activity for quality assurance. It helps in quick processing of millions of records, helps in reading data practically from any source and is highly user-friendly.

As part of the building initiative of the department August, 2010. The building would house the three mega construction projects were offices of Account General Sindh and most of the undertaken through PIFRA that include extention offices of Audit at Karachi. After slack period for of Audit House, Islamabad, construction of winters the pace of work at Quetta picked up Pakistan Audit and Account Complex, Karachi, and significantly to acheive over all physical progress Pakistan Audit and Account Complex, Quetta. of 44% in March 2010. Due to heightened security Super structure of Audit House, Islamabad has situation in the metropolis work at the site remain been constructed while finishing works still slightly behind schedule. Located on the main remain to be taken up. In case of Karachi the Zarghoon Road at the site that housed the physical and financial progress of work in March erstwhile Railway Accounts Academy, the project remained satisfactory to achieve the targeted comprises of two separate block that would physical progress of 72% and financial progress of enable the hosing of Audit and Accounts Training 63% and finishing works are progressing well to Institute in one unit and the Audit and Account ensure that the project achieves its completion by Offices in the main block.

Mega Construction Projects

Pakistan Audit & Accounts Complex, Karachi. Pakistan Audit & Accounts Complex, Quetta.

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PIFRA aims at creating a meaningful impact on Similarly, 4495 officers and staff of the accounting system implementation through Transfer of offices have been trained in FABS related activities. Technology in the form of Human Resource The Wing has also facilitated professional level Development. Prime objective of PIFRA Training training (SAP Expert level, professional degrees & Wing is to enable resources of Federal, Provincial, certifications) to 156 officers of the accounting District and Sub-District Departments and related offices.Accounts Offices to implement reforms On the audit side, more than 7,000 officers and introduced by PIFRA besides enabling personnel staff have been trained on Financial Audit Manual to use New Audit Methodologies. and computerized auditing. Besides, professional So far, PIFRA has trained 20,630 personnel of training has been provided to 3,402 officers and various Government agencies in the field of FABS. staff in various degree and certification courses.

Training Achievements

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Memorable Moments

FABS: HRM

1. Can the system make refund of IncomeTax deducted in excess from salary of an employee?

Yes, the system is flexible and it can make refund of excess Income Tax deducted but in the form of monthly adjustment i.e. less deduction of monthly income tax in the remaining months of the current fiscal year.

2. Is it possible to view the deleted record of pay or allowances of previously paid period of an employee?

It is possible through overview of result table. The system maintains history record of all payments of pay and allowances in result tables for each month. This can be viewed easily.

3. Is SAP system capable of maintaining G.P. Fund credits of Government employees for the period prior to implementation of the System?

Yes, previous GP Fund records can be maintained in the system through GP Fund Historical data updating procedure.

4. What are the outputs of a pension process?

After performing of pension process in the system, SAP has functionalities and options to generate both halves of PPO, Intimation Reports and other necessary reports as required.

5. What is the difference in pension payment process of Federal employees?

Yes, for the Federal Govt. employees the commutation authority are issuing instead of amount mentioning in both halves of PPO. After issuance of this authority to department, commutation bill is presented to the Accounts Office for issue of system generated cheque.

6. How much time does it take for a processing a pension case?

For employees who retired from Government service and have their service and personal records in the SAP system, it takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes. In case of employees retiring from autonomous body or in case of old family pension, processing takes approximately 10-25 minutes.

7. How many types of pension related reports we can generate from the SAP system?

SAP generated reports include, both halves of PPO, new pensioners report, pensioners detailed report, Intimation report, pension commutation authority report, pension increases report, and pensioners transfer-in & out reports.

Note: End-users are requested to provide their questions and

Queries to be addressed in our next issue

Frequently Frequently Asked Asked QuestionsQuestions

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CODE: 102. NUMBER EMPLOYED: Male 0 Female 1

AGE: Confidential DEPARTMENT: Family SECTION: Local

DESIGNATION: Government Servant's wife

ALTERNATE DESIGNATIONS: Spouse, Begum Sahib, Caretaker, Word Processor, Shopping Machine

INCOME: Unlimited [non-taxable]

WORK PERFORMED

Maintains household under supervision of HusbandAllocates funds & purchases suppliesPlans to make her Husband's salary support family [an impossible task]Entertains family members and guests with delicious foodsSupervises pets including Husband and children

DAILY DUTIES

Awakes husband and children, selects their clothingPrepares meal and dresses children.Washes dishes, irons, scrubs floors, windowsPlans day's marketing, calculates expenditures, compares calculations with available funds, recalculates, goes to market, destroys market list as impracticalWards-off seasonal acquaintancesSeeks vital information about what others' wives have which she doesn't haveWelcomes Husband with a list of problems, after the day is over

ACCEPTABILITY

Charming personality, complete knowledge of marketing, ability to handle in-laws

JOB SKILLS ACQUIRED THROUGH TRAINING

Ability to please, charm and fascinateAbility to do the work of carpenter, electrician, plumber, cook, medical assistant, accountant, arbitrator, fashion designer, advisorAbility to haggle with shopkeepersWash everything twelve hours a day and still look lovely in the evening!

HOBBIES

Fashion, shopping, cribbing

PROMOTION

To Mother-in-law without observing the criteria of "seniority-cum-fitness"

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Job Analysis Schedule of a Housewife

Facilitators of ChangeMuhammad Amin, Deputy Director, AATI Peshawar

Mr. Amin is one of the highest qualified officers of the Department. He holds an M. Sc degree in Finance & Accounting from the University of Southampton and MBA (Finance) from CECOS University, Peshawar. He is also a member for Pakistan Institute of Public Accountants. During his long career in Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service, he has conducted Audit of Privatization of PTCL and has held other important assignments. One of his major contributions is conducting training programs in Field Audit Offices for effective implementation of the Financial Audit Manual. He has contributed significantly for conducting PIFRA oriented training activities in the Institute.

Muhammad Ayub, Accounts Officer AG Office AJK

With his dynamic skills and special initiative, Mr. Ayub downloaded HR data of AJK from COBOL and converted it into EXCEL for uploading in SAP. He worked day and night and helped PIFRA in making the sites of AJK productive. He continues to work with the Siemens team and is doing his best to complete the task within the prescribed timeline. He has developed working knowledge of System Administration and is managing the day-to-day tasks very effectively. He is also instrumental in HR business processes and is now working on the FI side to process contingency payments through System. His special contribution in implementation of FABS in AJK is highly appreciated. This was the first instance where FABS was extended solely through in-house resources as far as configuration, FI master data and conversion of HR data is concerned. The

services of Chaudhry Adil (AO) and Mr. Khurram Baig (HR Consultant) and Mr. Naveed (Basis Expert) are also acknowledged.

Contacts

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Project to Improve Financial Reporting and Auditing (PIFRA)Office of the Auditor General of Pakistan,

Constitution Avenue, Islamabad-Pakistan.

Focal Person:Director General (CM/HRM) Ph: 051-9224041

Mahmood Alam Gill, Deputy Director (CM/HRM) Ph: 051-9224046, Fax: 051-9201914

Dear Readers:

This newsletter aims at sharing PIFRA progress, individual experiences, and good practices on relevant issues. We owe our achievements to all professional partners working on the system. In response to feedback readers, we have attempted to revamp this Newsletter by adding special contributions from some of our facilitators of change besides a few delicacies condensed from reading sources. Our aim is to try and bring together all of us into this Newsletter community our common enjoyment of reading inspirational and informative news, views, and success stories. We would like to keep finding new ways to make the Newsletter serve you better. We appreciate special contribution by two of our champions of change which we have included in this issue.

Please feel invited to contribute actively by sharing experiences, discussing concepts, and making comments on this issue. With your help, we attempt to further improve the information sharing and to contribute to a lively discussion that is interesting to all of us concerned with challenges of change management in PIFRA reforms. So do give us your valuable comments and contributions for making this Newsletter more beneficial for the Public Financial Management community.

Muhammad Yahya, Director-General

(Change Management) PIFRAyahya@pifra.gov.pk

Letter from the Editor