Re-engineering computation of terminal benefits

[Audio] Re-engineering computation of terminal benefits.

[Audio] OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION 1 Background Information 2 Core Values 3 Terminal benefits in the Public 4 HRM 5 Study undertaken.

[Audio] OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION C 6 Problem identified & intervention 7 System management intervention ( ICP) part 8 Personnel & Costing for System Management 9 Conclusion.

[Audio] 1. Background Our Company name is Kopano Audit Firm This proposal has been born of the realization that the current Government systems and procedures for managing processing of terminal benefits in the Civil Service has much scope for improvement & are not yielding desired community expectation. The system is not cost effective as it is tedious and manually oriented, it is characterized by a lot of red tape & takes too long to receive and It leaves room for officers to process longer or shorter and creates room for bribery The future work is now being shaped by extraordinary changes in technology, globalization and overwhelming information flow As a result, the current system for computation of TB needs to be reviewed and revamped with a view to streamline activities to make them less cumbersome. ***What is desirable is that terminal benefits should be calculated in time, and accurately. Majority of people depend on TB as their final entitlement..

[Audio] 2. Core values These are the guiding principles Objectivity Excellence Integrity Peoples focus Innovation*****.

[Audio] 3. Terminal benefits in the Public Service Terminal benefits are final entitlements of an employee upon termination of an employment contract. 1. By retirement - voluntary /mandatory 2. Termination – special assignment/ secondment/ expiry of contract/ resignation. 3. Death – In this instance the benefits are payable to a formally designated heir/ member of the family. Who are entitled to this Benefit ? Only Existing employees' public officers if they have served the government of Lesotho for a continuous period and have been employed confirmed or are entitled to be confirmed in appointment..

[Audio] 4. HRM It should be noted that TB is a component function of HRM and therefore, it is pertinent that HR officers are fully conversant with processing such TB squarely falls under Remunerations & benefits ( R&B) sub function Other components associated with R&B are; Job evaluation and grading systems ,incremental credit, and salary administration..

[Audio] HRM Processing of TB Cycle from Ministry of Officer to Finance is illustrated by a diagram below.

[Audio] 5. Study undertaken We conducted a study from 3 ministries within HR officers responsible for computing of terminal benefits and those ministries are Health, education, and Finance From the study we learned that there are different laws governing the civil servant especially looking at NSS, POLICE, DEFENCE FORCE & CORRECTIONAL SERVICE. Statistics below show number of files submitted to Ministry of finance between 21st May 2021 and 11th January 2022 from both from proclamation and pension fund..

[Audio] Study undertaken cont.….. 1064 files were submitted 199 are death mostly from Police and the army personnel leaving 865 who went to retirement (both compulsory and voluntary) 564 files have been approved Meaning 500 files are still pending This is a major concern in a Country of 1,8 million with the total number of 50,000 civil servants it means that the government is only paying 53% Basotho which is half of those who left the Civil Service. This also means that if we carry on in this pattern the number is likely to increase given the trajectory of civil servants that has been on the rise in recent years. This has been supported by the fact that of growth, civil servant's strength increased from 35,000 in 2006 to 50,000.00 in 2017, which Is about 70% for the period of 11 years..

[Audio] 6. Problems identified and interventions Kopano Audit firm undertook a review of the processing and management of terminal benefits. Cursory though the review was, it was revealed significant shortcomings in the current system. According to the sources interviewed (and documents reviewed), it takes On average 6 months to process terminal benefits for officers exiting the civil service. There are various and different reasons for the delay encountered. Key problems among these reasons are illustrated on the table 1 below with intended interventions.

[Audio] Problems identified and interventions Cont. Problems & Interventions The record keeping is insufficient and does not allow for computation of TB i.e there are some cases where you find someone who was born in 1920 - To link HRIS with the Home Affairs System producing ID's Red tape – The procedure for computing TB is too long because of the bureaucratic nature of the Civil Service - To limit circulation of files File Auditing not conducted - To compel all HR officers to conduct file auditing, Monthly salary bill and reconciliation to avoid overpayment and underpayment Incompetency in some HR officers due to lack of proper training in payroll management - To alight all the trainings with the strategic goal of the government in computing TB i.e identify a course content with HR and Accounts component for example B.com in HRM/The intersection of HR and Accounting- Strategic Finance. Lack of exit interviews hence pensioners die of depression - To acquire the services of a counselor and Financial Advisor to prepare pensioners for Life after work in the Civil Service mostly for financial planning..

[Audio] Problems identified and intervention Cont. Empirical evidence from this study seem to suggests that manual system of payroll preparation is antiquated, tedious and error prone system, mainly for the following reasons Inconsistence in data entry Time consuming in producing reports Lack of security data Duplicate of data entry Furthermore, the table below depicts the difference between the manual payroll system and the electronic/computerized payroll system..

[Audio] Problems identified and intervention Cont. Features, Manual Payroll & Computerized Payroll Meaning - Manual payroll means the calculation of the payroll entirely on paper - Computerized system storing unlimited data while managing the data as well Speed - Manual payroll process data & creates report slower than computerized - Creates report faster than manual Errors - Maximum errors as manual calculations are done - Creates minimum errors Efficiency - Less efficient as more time is required - More efficient as less time is required Processing of data - Processing is lower as large volume of data need to be dealt with - Processing is faster as computerized system is there Bulk - Paper based systems are generally bulky and officer space is expensive - No paperwork is needed & data is stored in data based therefore is less bulky.

[Audio] Problems identified and intervention Cont. Therefore, based on the above findings we recommend the use of an electronic payroll system because the actual mode of the system will automate payroll faster, easily and accurately and compute terminal benefits timely.

[Audio] 9. Conclusion Terminal benefits is not all about processing and salary adjustment. We do progression on available information. We need information from relevant ministries a year. Salary bill, reconciliation and file auditing need to be conducted regularly. We can build the perfect system in the world, but it will fail if we don't have sufficient information..

[Audio] The end Thank you!. The end. .

[Audio] Reference 1. https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Project-and-Operations/ADB-BD-IF- 2006- 20-EN-LESOTHO-COUNTRY-GOVERNANCE-PROFILE.PDF AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT FUND KINGDOM OF LESOTHO COUNTRY GOVERNANCE PROFILE COUNTRY DEPARTMENT North, East & South Region January 2006. 2. https://www.gov.ls/public-service-commits-to-improve-service-delivery/PUBLIC SERVICE COMMITS TO IMPROVE SERVICE DELIVERY August 9, 2017, in GOVERNMENT https://www.gov.ls/public-service-commits-to-improve-service-delivery/.