The Ministry of Finance aims to formulate and develop financial policies and plans for the state, coordinate budgets, streamline and control government spending, enhance tax revenue, and develop its systems to achieve economic and social objectives.
Ministry's Objectives Presidential Decree No. 557 of 1977 defined the Ministry of Finance's objectives as follows: “The Ministry of Finance aims to formulate and develop financial policies and plans for the state, coordinate budgets, streamline and control government spending, enhance tax revenue, and develop its systems to achieve economic and social objectives."
The Ministry responsibilities are as follows:
Political Role:
- Proposing and formulating the general financial policy to ensure the achievement of the economic and social development plan's objectives, and participating in developing the general monetary policy in collaboration with relevant authorities to ensure coordination between monetary and financial policies.
- Developing plans and programs related to financial aspects that guarantee the achievement of national objectives.
- Preparing the draft general state budget within the framework of the overall state plan and submitting it to the relevant authorities.
Oversight Role:
- Supervising the implementation of the general state budget after its approval, monitoring it, and evaluating the results to ensure the achievement of the overall state plan.
- Exercising control, monitoring, and technical supervision over financial and accounting entities within the limits of the laws and regulations related to this matter.
- Planning and Monitoring Purchasing and Selling Operations for the State Administrative Apparatus and Public Entities.
Legislative Role:
- Studying and preparing financial legislation and expressing opinions on legislation prepared by other ministries that impose new financial burdens on the treasury.
- Conducting studies and research on financial policies in light of domestic and international financial and economic developments, and studying the necessary legislative reform plans in this regard.
- Participating in the review of all international agreements related to grants and loans in collaboration with relevant entities.
- Conducting necessary legislative studies in collaboration with relevant entities to link the overall state plan with financing plans for local and foreign currencies.
Executive Role:
- Managing financial resources and consolidating revenue surpluses and general reserves for finance funds, insurance and investment entities, local and foreign loans, and other available funds, and participating in regulating the use of public resources with the Ministry of Planning to finance economic and social development plans and state public resources.
- Estimating, determining, monitoring, and collecting public resources and all collection matters within the jurisdiction of the Ministry's entities.
- Performing general treasury operations.
- Managing and liquidating funds that have been transferred to the state under nationalization and custodianship laws or by court order.
The Pain: The Situation Prior to Project Implementation
The Egyptian National budget preparation process goes through several steps to reach the final value of the general state budget, which is compiled by various budgetary sectors and entities at the national level.
There were several challenges and problems faced by different entities and sectors during the implementation of these stages, including:
- Data Confidentiality
- Data processing speed
- Prompt generation of required reports
- Availability of an application that ensures the smooth execution of these points
- Lack of quick response to the entities' report requirements
- Inability of the current application at that time to generate reports in an organized and consolidated manner as required
- Lack of speed in data processing
- Lack of flexibility in amendments during the fiscal year
- Absence of an integration mechanism between the budget implementation system and the existing application
Addressing such pains, it became abundantly clear that an innovative and integrated solution is needed to streamline the such complex process of national wide budget preparation, safeguard data, swiftly generate reports, and make the whole process user-friendly.
A system that not only embraces all aspects of budget preparation but also ensures data centralization, security, speedy processing, flexibility in adjustments, accommodates such huge volume of data and seamless integration with the ERP system was needed.
The Proposed Solution:
Government Budget Automation is the proposed solution to Solve the mentioned problem:
- An integrated system to ensure the accuracy, confidentiality, and swift processing of data.
- An all-inclusive system to centralize data and eliminate the hindrances of scattered information.
- The ability to quickly generate and arrange reports in an organized, consolidated manner, aligning with the desired format and easing the decision-making process.
- Achieving rapid data processing by utilizing a modern system to handle budgetary values swiftly and efficiently.
With these aspects, we aim to transform the complexities of the National wide budgeting process into a streamlined, secure, and efficient system that can adapt to the demands of the modern age by implementing Oracle/Hyperion Budgeting and Planning bringing in the prowess of a globally recognized solution.
The Steps Taken: Our Path Towards the Solution
- Efforts were made to ensure the speed of data processing by utilizing dedicated database structures in the application.
- Extracting reports in an organized and consolidated manner as required.
- Implementing and integrating the budget preparation system with the Oracle Hyperion application and the budget implementation system.
- Providing full flexibility for any amendments or additions during the budget preparation phase.
These steps mark the journey towards transforming the national wide budgeting process into a more efficient, secure, and flexible, paving the way for seamless operations and effective financial planning.
Challenges Faced During Implementation
- Training all users to work with the new system.
- Uploading historical data to ensure the complete and reviewed extraction of all reports by relevant sectors.
- Testing the working system by completing the budget preparation stages.
- Testing all reports extracted from the system.
- Achieving integration between the preparation and implementation systems.
Each challenge provided valuable insights and learning experiences, which were instrumental in refining our approach and optimizing the new system's efficiency and effectiveness.
Situation After Successful Implementation
- Existence of an integrated budget preparation system ensuring data confidentiality.
- Presence of a budget preparation system that integrates with the budget implementation system.
- Achieving speed in extracting and organizing reports effectively.
- Ease of extracting budget folders in an orderly and organized manner.
- All required equations and processes for the distribution of budget values among different items were successfully implemented. This has allowed for more precise and efficient allocation of budgetary resources, resulting in better financial management.
These improvements have greatly enhanced MOF ability to manage the Egyptian National budget planning effectively and efficiently.