FCGO set to implement NEPSAS system this fiscal

KATHMANDU, July 19

The Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) — government agency responsible for treasury operation and internal audit of the government — is preparing to implement the Nepal Public Sector Accounting Standards (NEPSAS).

The NEPSAS, which has been designed on the basis of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (cash basis), will be implemented in at least 10 ministries and all the constitutional bodies this year. It had been implemented as a pilot project in the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) and Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) in last fiscal 2014-15.

The FCGO has an aim to implement the new accounting standards in all the 44 central level government offices — ministries and constitutional bodies that are called economic entities in NEPSAS — by fiscal 2017-18, according to Rajendra Prasad Nepal, acting financial comptroller general.

Apart from MoPIT and MoWCSW, FCGO has already selected some ministries, namely, Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, and Ministry of Agricultural Development to implement NEPSAS from this year.

“Other names are under discussion and it will be decided soon,” said Nepal. “While selecting the ministries, FCGO has chosen both ministries that have high budget allocation and those that have low budget allocation too.”

After implementation of this accounting system, receipts and payment accounts of the concerned ministries and constitutional bodies will be presented on a single sheet and in an easier format following the international accounting principles. Subsequently, disclosures and notes will be added in the report. “We are going to apply the international reporting format,” said Nepal.

As per the existing system, economic entities prepare separate reports on expenditure, revenue, royalty, foreign aid and materials without following the international accounting principles. The reports are difficult for accounting professionals who are not familiar with our bookkeeping system to understand, according to Nepal.

The new system which FCGO is going to execute will produce reports that will be easy for accounting professionals from anywhere in the world who are aware of international public sector accounting standards to understand.

NEPSAS was developed by Accounting Standards Board, Nepal and the Cabinet endorsed it for implementation some five years back.