Accra, Aug. 24, GNA - Finance Officers of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been urged to acquire skills and knowledge on the Chart of Accounts to ensure that current financial reforms being undertaken by government are achieved.

The call was made by Mr James Ntim Amponsah, Deputy Controller and Accountant–General in-charge of Treasuries and Coordinator of the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), at a two–day training workshop for Finance Officers of MDAs in Accra.

He announced that the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in conjunction with the Controller and Accountant - General’s Department was adopting as an economic and accounting policy, the International Monetary Fund Government Finance Statistics 2001 Manual.

“The application of the new chart of accounts for budgets is therefore part of a worldwide effort to improve government accounting and transparency in operations, “Mr Amponsah added.

The move to implement the new chart of accounts is also to meet the demands of the Financial Administration Act 2003 (Act 654) and the 1992 Constitution.

Mr Amponsah explained that the training was designed to help Finance Officers to apply the charts of account in policy and planning, budget preparation, fiscal and financial reporting, budget execution (implementation) and budgetary control.

The chart of accounts is a set of coding elements used to classify, record, budget and report on all financial transactions in the most suitable form for making informed and good financial decisions.

It is composed of a number of segments in a hierarchy for the recording of accounting transactions, management, control and reporting of the Government of Ghana execution of the Appropriation Act.

Hitherto, all the MDAs were using different chart of accounts for their budget activities resulting in the lack of uniformity in the chart of accounts.

But the harmonized GIFMIS chart of accounts has been re-examined to adopt the principles of differentiation between personal (creditors and debtors) and impersonal (real and nominal) accounts.

Furthermore, the impersonal accounts are re-grouped under their respective headings to comply with the IMF Government Finance Statistics 2001 standard.

The chart of accounts, initially had nine characters, but with the implementation of Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which required more detailed budgeting and reporting analysis, it was increased to 15 characters and then 47-characters with introduction of Budget and Public Expenditure Management System (BPEMS).

The components of GIFMIS chart of accounts include, Economic Entity, Funding Classification, Functional Classification, Organization Classification, Program and Sub Program Classification, and Economic Classification.

The Controller and Accountant-General, has the sole responsibility for the management of the chart of accounts. This has to do mainly with the custody and the update of the chart of accounts (Additions and Terminations etc).

The chart of accounts and update procedures apply to all ministries, departments, agencies, divisions, section, units and sub units.

The process of updating the chart of accounts is triggered when the head of the MDA makes a formal request to the Controller and Accountant-General.

The Head of the MDA/MMDA shall submit for approval a change or addition to the chart of accounts on the prescribed chart of accounts update form.

The Controller and Accountant General shall review the request and will consult the Director of the Budget in regard to the budget classification before any approval is given to the request.

Once a request is approved, the Controller and Accountant-General shall instruct the Head of Public Accounts Section of Controller Accountant General Department to update all versions of the chart of accounts with new codes and their relevant descriptions.