Management and Accounting for Non-financial Assets

Oct 12, 2017 , Ljubljana, Slovenia Webinar

English

Non-financial assets (often called fixed assets) represent a significant investment of public money for both central and local government institutions and the effective management of these assets is important. Effective management includes having good information on assets owned by the public sector coupled with adequate internal control over those assets. This webinar focused on the accounting aspects, recognizing that maintaining control of fixed assets is a function of the entire institution, not just the accounting function.

Objectives of the webinar

The overall objective of the webinar was to introduce the importance of information on institutions’ fixed assets for creating accurate financial reporting, business valuation and thorough financial analysis.

The objectives of the webinar were to:

Understand the accounting treatment of non-financial or fixed assets in a cash vs. accrual basis accounting environment
Describe the uses and importance of financial information on non-financial assets
Identify the data sources for developing a comprehensive asset register

Participants got insight into following topics:

Defining capital expenditure and non-financial assets
Accounting for non-financial assets in a cash vs accrual environment
Issues to consider from an accounting for non-financial assets perspective in an accrual environment
Asset classes (including heritage assets)
Valuation
Capitalization thresholds
Depreciation
Accounting vs internal control
How is asset information useful? How can stakeholders use the information?
Compiling a comprehensive asset register

Who attended?

Heads of finance and accounting departments at line ministries
Senior staff in charge of consolidation at Ministry of Finance –Treasury
Senior staff at institutions in charge of maintaining fixed assets records
SAI staff engaged in audit of financial statements, methodology and quality control

Faculty

Suzanne Flynn, IMF PFM Advisor

Suzanne works for the IMF and has been based at the CEF since November 2016. She is technical assistance advisor for public financial management in South East Europe. At the CEF, Suzanne helps deliver learning programs related to her work. She joined the IMF eight years ago after six years working in East Africa with PwC and in the Ugandan treasury. She started her career in the UK public service in 1987, starting in central government, and qualifying as a CIPFA accountant in local government in 1991. Before embarking on her career in Africa, she spent 3 years working for CIPFA in London. She has also worked in a number of Asian and Central Asian countries, and worked with several governments in Europe. Her work is funded by the European Commission.

Noel Hepworth, CEF Associate Fellow

Mr. Hepworth`s initial contacts with the CEF were as the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and then with a particular responsibility for its international development. Jointly we developed a professional training program for financial managers in western Balkans countries, which subsequently developed as an internal audit certification program and has extended its reach geographically. Noel is also a lecturer at the CEF internal audit related workshops.

Ivana Jakir Bajo, Treasury at Ministry of Finance of Croatia

Ivana Jakir-Bajo is currently The Chief State Treasurer in the Croatian Ministry of Finance. She joined the Ministry of Finance in 1998 occupying various senior positions in the field of budgeting. As the Director for State Budget Execution, she was closely involved in the design and implementation of the first Croatian spending reviews in 2014/2015 which analysed the expenditures for employees paid from the state budget; the expenditures for subsidies; the healthcare system; the business operations of agencies, institutes, funds and other legal persons with public authorities; and tax expenditures. Ivana received a master’s in Organization and Management from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Business and Economics and has additionally studied government budgeting issues at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and at the Centre of Excellence in Finance in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She has authored/co-authored numerous papers and books on government budgeting and accounting, and has lectured at various seminars, training events and conferences in Croatia as well as abroad. Her main research and professional interests are budgeting, public expenditure management, government accounting, and treasury systems.

Lucia Kašiarová , Ministry of Finance of Slovakia

Lucia Kašiarova is a Project Coordinator at Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. She started working at the Slovak Ministry of Finance in 2006 and has been involved in the implementation of accrual accounting in public sector in Slovakia. Lucia had been previously working as an auditor at KPMG. Recently she has been also involved in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a Consultant and has been working with the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro to strengthen their capacities in accrual accounting and reporting.

Peter Ivánek, Ministry of Finance of Slovakia

Peter Ivánek works for the Ministry of Finance since 2005. He has experience in the compiling financial statement with new public sector accounting standards and in 2007, as a Head of the consolidation department and project team member, he contributed to the accounting reform. He has experiences on public sector accounting, reporting, preparing strategic documents and financial reports. Currently he is working on the position of Director of the Overall State Reporting Department.