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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 s - 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

6. 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.

7. 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- s, calendar, visuals, search functions

8. Projects

15. QUESTIONS