Local accounting officers trained on digital bookkeeping.

The workshop taking place in the capital city, Yaounde, from August 1 to 3, started with the award of prizes to the first three Decentralized Territorial Collectivities, CTDs, that submitted their final accounts promptly.

In which case, the CTD of the North Region, won the first prize and carted away the sum of 300,000 FCFA. The second prize worth 200,000 FCFA went to the North West CTD; while the South West CTD smiled home with the third prize.

The representative of the Director General of Treasury, Financial and Monetary Cooperation, told participants that Moh Sylvester is in London to assist the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, raise funds from the international money market to support the 2024 State Budget.

He then disclosed that the international mission is successful as government had already raised more than three hundred billion Francs CFA from this market. 

This, the official said, is an indication of the confidence international financiers still have on Cameroon. 

He also told the crowd that the North Regional CTD, rendered to hierarchy up to 95% of the completed accounts expected from all CTDs in the country. Reason why the North CTD was honoured with the first prize.

For the North West CDT, the representative said even though the security crisis did not allow the office to begin work on time, the Regional Chief of Service took only three months to submit final accounts to a level that many other councils that had been at work for upwards of two years were not able to submit.

He told participants that government has enacted laws governing the spending of money received by Decentralized collectivities from the central administration and other funding partners. 

The disbursement of money to CTDs started in 2010, and the amounts disbursed continue to increase as the years go by. 

Which, in 2019, prompted the central administration to come up with a financial code to guide CTDs on how to manage these funds. 

The MINFI official said the law also reinforced the politics of government accounting in the country. 

Also, the Central African Economic and Monetary Commission, has come up with a digital application to be used by CTDs in the entire sub region, so that accounting standards both at the central administration and local collectivities conform to what obtains in similar institutions all over the CEMAC sub region.

Therefore, officials at the grassroots must spend these funds making sure that they keep the required accounts and furnish the central administration with the reports as required, be they on a quarterly, half yearly or yearly basis. 

He warned that henceforth, CTDs that do not submit up to 75% of final accounts expected of them as at when due, would be sanctioned.

Organisers harped on the need for practical training using modern lap tops equipped with the CEMAC application, averting that training of field officers can no longer be in theory alone. 

Which justifies why the theme of the workshop was centered on practical training of chiefs of service on how to consolidate statistics for the execution of public finance at the local level using new computer applications.

Apart from MINFI, trainers for the workshop were drawn from the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development, MINDDEVEL; the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance, FEICOM; and the Cameroon Agency for Public Finance Reforms.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3187 of Friday August 02, 2024