BEYOND BUDGET

Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

During the signing of the 2024 General Appropriations Act in December 2023, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (PBBM) gave the budget commandment for us in government: “We are working for the people not for ourselves. We are working for the country, not for ourselves.” The President reminded public servants that “good government dictates upon us the duty to spend the appropriations we have cobbled together for the correct purposes, the right way, on time, and on budget.”

I fully support PBBM’s call for responsible, transparent, and accountable budget and management practices.

Thus, I was glad to lead the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in holding the Fiscal Year 2024 Recognition Ceremony for the Resource Persons (RPs) on the National Guidelines on Internal Control Systems (NGICS) and the Revised Philippine Government Internal Audit Manual (RPGIAM) last week. It was our way of appreciating our existing 28RPs who selflessly devoted their time and effort to building the capacity of agencies, especially in internal control and internal audit, over the past year. We also welcomed the 10 new members of the roster of recognized RPs.

For those who are unfamiliar with the concepts, internal control refers to the plan of an organization and all the coordinated methods and measures adopted within it to safeguard its assets, check the accuracy and reliability of its accounting data, and encourage adherence to prescribed managerial policies. Hence, having a strong and responsive internal control system is an essential component of an agency’s internal and external processes. It can significantly enhance the integrity of operations and improve organizational outcomes and results to achieve sectoral goals by providing stronger accountability; improved ability to address risks to achieve general control objectives; better systems of responding to the needs of citizens; and quality outputs and outcomes, and effective governance.

As part of its mandate to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the strengthening of the internal control systems, the DBM issued the NGICS under DBM Circular Letter (CL) No. 2008-8 on Oct. 23, 2008 to serve as a guide to the heads of agencies in designing, installing, implementing, and monitoring their respective internal control systems, taking into consideration the requirements of their organization and operations. It unifies in a single document the existing Philippine laws, rules, and regulations on internal control and contains the fundamental principles, policies, and general standards that will guide each government agency in developing its system of internal control.

Meanwhile, internal audit is the evaluation of management controls and operations performance, and the determination of the degree of compliance of internal controls with laws, regulations, managerial policies, accountability measures, ethical standards, and contractual obligations. It involves the appraisal of the plan of the organization and all the coordinated methods and measures, to recommend courses of action on matters relating to operations audit and management control. Internal audit, being a separate component of internal control, is instituted to determine whether internal controls are well-designed and properly implemented.

As a component of the internal control system, I firmly believe that internal audit ensures that good governance is at the heart of all agencies in the bureaucracy.

To complement the NGICS, the DBM issued the RPGIAM under CL No. 2020-8 dated May 26, 2020 to serve as a guide for internal auditors to understand better the legal bases, nature, and scope of the internal audit function in the Philippine public sector, identify and prioritize potential audit areas for appraisal as they progress in the internal audit activity, and describe the procedures logically to facilitate a structured and systematic approach in internal auditing. As practitioners, internal auditors in the public sector are responsible for assisting the agency heads in undertaking a separate evaluation of the internal control system to promote effective, efficient, ethical, and economical operations.

The NGICS and RPGIAM, affirm our commitment to our citizenry towards stronger accountability, prudent financial management, quality service, and better government operations.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has dampened growth and development, the DBM, through its Systems and Productivity Improvement Bureau, has been pursuing the roll-out of the revised manual since 2020. Among the key components of the roll-out is the conduct of the capacity-building training (CBT) for internal auditors of government agencies to build their capabilities in carrying out their internal audit functions based on the RPGIAM; and the executive and management briefings for the heads of agencies, senior officials, top management, and delivery unit heads to apprise them of their roles and responsibilities in supervision and in the operationalization of internal audit functions in the agency. We have already conducted nine batches of RPGIAM CBT, empowering 508 practitioners from 146 national government agencies. Further, we have organized four executive briefings on NGICS and RPGIAM, engaging around 660 department secretaries, heads of agencies, boards of directors, and senior officials, as well as facilitated training workshops on the baseline assessment of the internal control system.

Beyond budget, as PBBM pronounced, under the Bagong Pilipinas, “we must begin by restoring faith in ourselves, belief in our strengths, and trust in our institutions.” Thus, rest assured that DBM is one with government agencies in establishing an inspiring culture of internal audit and control so we can deliver public service that meets, or even exceeds, expectations. To our partners in this endeavor, let us continue to strive for excellence in everything we do to build a brighter tomorrow — one that is defined by integrity, empathy, and a tireless commitment to creating a better society for all.

(Amenah F. Pangandaman is the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management.)