Finance Ministry Looking at Performance-Based Budgeting System

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and Public Service, Senator Don Wehby, has said that the Ministry is looking at introducing a performance-based budgeting system, as part of the mechanism to improve the budget process.
Senator Wehby, who was addressing an internal auditors symposium yesterday (Nov. 1) at the Jamaica Conference Centre, explained that the performance-based budgeting approach aims to “improve the link between money spent by the government and the results or outputs by the government, by linking clearly defined outputs, providing incentives for meeting targets, and holding management strictly accountable for any significant deviation from the programme targets.”
He noted that in such a system, “management is allowed greater flexibility in how they manage their budget to meet their pre-agreed objectives.”
“However, with this increased flexibility comes increased accountability and responsibility,” he stated, noting that public sector internal auditors will be key to the successful piloting of such a system in Jamaica.
Lauding the work of the public sector internal auditors, Senator Wehby said they promote confidence in government, by giving the public the assurance that resources are being managed in an unbiased, objective and a resource-oriented manner.
“Their role is primarily important where the perception of corruption in government threatens to erode stakeholder confidence in government. You hold us accountable on behalf of the people of Jamaica,” he pointed out.
According to the Senator, the functions performed by internal auditors are necessary at all levels of government, and not only for the monitoring of central government operations.
“All arms of government must be monitored so as to ensure that they are not in any breach of any public regulations or policies. It is only through the institution of proper controls and management that the strain on the public purse will be eased,” he stated.
The two-day symposium, which concluded yesterday, was hosted by the Ministry of Finance and Public Service’s Internal Audit Directorate under the theme: ‘Implementing the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Standards for Quality Assurance’.
Among the topics discussed were: Continuous Monitoring: A Fad or a Paradigm Shift; Planning Audit Assignments and Managing your Internal Audit Resources; Influencing Management’s Attitude Towards Risks; and Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme: An overview.
The IIA is an international professional association with more than 130,000 members. It is recognized as the internal audit profession’s leader in certification, education, research, and technological guidance.