UAE News Agency (WAM), Thursday 3 Jun 2010
MoF Celebrates Launching UAE Budget Automation System
Abu Dhabi, WAM:
Ministry of Finance celebrated launching draft
zero - based budget of the UAE and the automation system in Beach Rotana - Abu
Dhabi.
The event was attended by Younis Haji Al
Khoori, Director General of the Ministry, the executive directors and a large
crowd of managers and staff of MoF departments.
This comes in line with efforts made to
develop the general budget and to upgrade its implementation mechanisms. It also
raises the quality of services provided by federal UAE government to the level
of best global practices.
The budget automation system was applied via
Oracle Hyperion planning system, a central database meant to find solutions to
budgetary planning.
The system saves all supporting information
and secures all related applications on the internet. For the first time, the
system applies the rules both in Arabic and English.
After the intensive and precise training
conducted by teams working in the various federal ministries, the users of the
system in the ministries reached 175 persons, and it is expected to increase to
300 or even more when the system is applied in the independent federal entities.
During his opening speech, Younis Haji Al Khoori, Director General of MoF, said:
"The zero - based budget initiative is a clear evidence of the continued efforts
exerted by the Ministry of Finance to raise the quality of services provided by
the federal government. The initiative enhanced the transparency of the steps
taken to prepare the draft general budget in UAE. It also facilitated budget
preparation process depending on a clear and specific guideline as well as new
IT system used for preparing the budget. The draft Zero - based budget comes in
line with the strategic direction of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, taking
into consideration that it will be submitted during three years and will be
linked to the strategy plan of 2011 - 2013".
For her part, Mrs Sumayya Al Hamily, Director of Budget Automation Project,
said: "MoF selected Hyperion system to plan and prepare the general budget of
UAE due to its precise results and benefits provided the users. The system is
easy to use and powerful in controlling workflow and linking the data of the
governmental financial and accounting system. It will have a positive impact on
auditing the performance of ministries on an ongoing basis, taking into
consideration that it provides a unified solution for all the users meant to
prepare, implement and follow up on the budget in a short time and less
efforts".
It is worth mentioning that launching the
draft zero - based budget and automation system budget took more than ten months
of the ongoing efforts in cooperation with the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs to
design the procedures and the guideline of federal budget, in addition to
holding regular workshops with more than 35 ministries and federal independent
entities to implement all stages of budget planning process.
These workshops dealt with themes like program
structure harmony, costs distribution, standardization, predictions' activities,
in addition to developing modern IT system to provide the best means to prepare
the zero based budget systematically.
At the end of the ceremony, which included a presentation about the development
seen by the public general budget in UAE, HE Younis Haji Al Khoori, Director
General of MoF, praised all teams involved in planning and implementing the
draft of the zero - based budget and the budget automation system; commending
the teams' dedication to make the Ministry of Finance a global leader in the
management of financial resources and securing the sustainable and balanced
development.
WAM/MAB