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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
 

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