Monrovia, Liberia - The Liberia Macroeconomic Policy Analysis Center (LIMPAC) within the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning today held graduation exercise for eleven analysts within the Department of Budget and Development Planning after two weeks of intensive training on utilization of the Government of Liberia Automated Payroll System (ATAPs)
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Deputy Minister for Budget and Development Planning, Hon. Tanneh G. Brunson lamented that the certification of eleven analysts within the Department of Budget and Development Planning is a milestone and great achievement for the Ministry of Finance, specifically the Department of Budget.
She congratulated the analysts and encouraged them to use their knowledge wisely to support the mandate of the Ministry of Finance, recognize and uphold the confidentiality of payroll information.
According to Hon. Bruson, the certification is the first major step towards adequate budget analysis including payroll, and the new automated system provides the tools to perfect their understanding and analyses.
‘’ Analysts who are trained should implement what was taught during the training and apply it to their work ethic and professionalism’’ she explained.
She also encouraged the analysts to keep focus and use what was taught to them to directly improve their work, and be open minded on the various issues during the payroll analysis process. She ended by saying ‘’ Working as a budget analyst is key, and privacy matters’’
For his part, the Executive Director of the Liberia Macroeconomic Policy Analysis Center (LIMPAC), Mr. Del Francis Wreh reminded the analysts that the Department of Budget remains the primary entry point for all the expenditure for the Government, including the payroll of spending entities which currently constitutes more than 40% of the National Budget.
According to him, Payroll is one of the key parts of the budget like other components such as goods and service, debt payments, capital investment, and as such the Budget Department through its analyst should have detailed understanding and involvement with payroll processes including the system and control mechanisms on the automated payroll system.
This means analysts should access the detailed payroll of their assigned agencies to track variation in actual payroll versus personnel listing, and track and analyze trends in payrolls.
The LIMPAC Executive Director also praised senior Management for supporting the training and future training for other departments with the Ministry of Finance.
He praised Deputy Minister Brunson for her dedicated support and commitment shown during the entire training process.