Overview of the GSF Financial Monitoring Tool GSF Results and Financial Monitoring Workshop Dar es Salaam, 2017

Background Lack of a defined schedule for Sub-Grantee reports submission to the Executing Agency (EA). Lack of enforcement of reporting timelines. Lack of reporting timelines and standardised templates Bank account reconciliations Inordinate time taken to correct errors in financial records. Reports received from WSSCC at the inception of the project indicated that incomplete/inaccurate information was received from the EAs resulting in multiple iterations being performed. This was indicative of the lengthy period and effort it may take to finalize reports. Potential of processing duplicate payment Lack of supporting document for payments Unauthorized documents Lack of communication on when programme funds are disbursed Records retention Advances included as expenditure Reporting not as per books of account Reporting of partial expenditures Variance in reported (unaudited expenditure) and Audited expenditure Other incomes not accounted correctly Lack of a defined schedule for Sub-Grantee reports submission to the Executing Agency (EA) – EA indicated that reports are provided to them on a monthly basis while Sub-Grantee, revealed that they send report quarterly. This is indicative of an inconsistency in understanding of what is required by different stakeholders from a reporting perspective. Lack of enforcement of reporting timelines –Sub-Grantees were not submitting financial reports on time and in some cases the reports submitted had incomplete information. Bank account reconciliations –Bank and General Ledger accounts reconciliations were not performed at all in some cases or consistently in others. SGs were not reconciling bank and GL accounts and having these reconciliations reviewed and signed off by the Finance Manager. Inordinate time taken to correct errors in financial records. Reports received from WSSCC at the inception of the project indicated that incomplete/inaccurate information was received from the EAs resulting in multiple iterations being performed. This was indicative of the lengthy period and effort it may take to finalize reports.

Background The fact that an organization has the latest technology does not guarantee that financial reporting will be complete, accurate and efficient. A good example is of an SG where the record keeping and reporting was excellent even though all the processes were manual.

WSSCC Financial Reporting Tool Purpose to track, review and analyse EA and SG financial reports and expenditures. Reduce reporting times by automatic aggregation and collation of financial data. Assist in tracking disbursements and expenditure on near real-time basis thereby strengthening financial monitoring. Assist in harmonized reporting and reviewing of financial information across all implementing partners. To be integrated with M&E tool as a comprehensive Programme results monitoring tool Feeding into data for VfM analyses.

Features of the System Manage everything associated with setting up a grant, reporting and monitoring a project Reporting - both Programmatic and Financial Feedback Review Process on Reporting – from EAs and GSF, and responses from SGs and EAs Contractual and Disbursement Module - records disbursement schedules (planned and actual) and contractual timelines Analytics and Visual Representation of Data - Extensive analysis by utilizing data/information collected Auto emails - Email reminders will go to key constituents for different work flows Calendar Feature - displays (planned and actual) dates for reporting, disbursements User Base - hosts user contact information, organization details Document Library - Host all documents related to a Grantee in the ‘document tab’ in the System

Design of the Tool An online database that captures country-level expense detail Consolidation of Reports at EAs level (Country Level) and Geneva Secretariat-level Built-in dashboards to support decision-making a. An online database that captures country-level expense detail GSF supports the national programs to address the problem of inadequate sanitation and hygiene by focusing on methods of changing behavior. This involves financial flows from WSSCC to Executing Agencies (EAs) and on to their Sub-grantees. In order to perform the “Value-for-Money” analysis and implement a monitoring system, it is very essential to capture in detail, how the funds transferred to EAs and SGs been used in program implementation. For this the proposed system will allow each EAs and SGs to capture their respective expenses in details, these are only those expenses which they would have incurred for program implementation. It is of utmost importance that all the necessary details are captured while entering expense related information, this will strengthen the monitoring and internal control process that GSF intends to implement. b. Consolidation of Reports at EAs level (Country Level) and Geneva Secretariat-level SGs in a country forward their expense detail to their respective EA. The EA of a country would be receiving multiple Reports from multiple SGs. Consolidating all these reports would involve multiple back and forth of these Reports between the EA and the SGs. This usually leads to error and duplication of effort. The consolidated numbers arrived from this exercise are further reported onto the GSF Progress Report and other country reports, hence it is of utmost importance that there are no concerns with the accuracy of these numbers. Sharing unreliable information has a detrimental effect and leaves a negative impact on perception of the various stakeholders (Donors, Media, Fundraising Fora, etc.). The proposed financial monitoring tool will resolve all these concerns, as consolidation function at EA level and at Geneva Secretariat-level will be the function of the tool, without having any manual interference in the process. Once all the expense details are entered by SGs and the Reports have been approved by the EAs, the tool will perform the consolidation function. GSF will approve Reports submitted by the EAs, before it gets consolidated at the Geneva Secretariat-level. c. Built-in dashboards to support decision-making The current task for preparing the consolidated reports is so cumbersome that it leaves one with very less time to perform analyses of reported figures. The proposed web based financial monitoring tool will display outputs in a dashboard format to the respective users. For example when a SG logs on to the system the Dashboard will show the summary of the respective SGs funds received and the funds utilized. Since aggregation is the function of the application, the results will update automatically as and when new transactions are keyed onto the system. The dashboard visualization will also show how the SG is performing against the set programme targets. It will also show outputs for unit costs per results achieved. The visualization of the Dashboards at EA level will have more options, as they will be able to compare results of multiple SGs using the Dashboard features. These visualization options will definitely assist in the decision making process.

Data/ Information Collection Stages of a System Data/ Information Collection Processing Analysis Inputs All Forms, workflows for budgets and reports System Acts Inputs automatically processed by System Outputs Analytics, auto- emails, calendar, visuals, search functions

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