Digitized payroll seen as key to gov’t efficiency, transparency

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) underscored yesterday the need for a fully automated and digitized  payroll system to further boost transparency and accountability in government finances and operations.

DBM Secretary Florencio Abad said the move to reform the existing payroll system will also facilitate the quick and efficient processing of  salaries of government workers.

The Administration’s Public Financial Management (PFM) Committee — of which the DBM is a member — has been tasked to develop the centralizing software for the NPS, which will be pilot-tested in select agencies at the end of the year.

The NPS is also a component of the larger Government Human Resource Information System (GHRIS), which will harmonize and unify all human resource management operations in government, from the recruitment phase all the way to retirement. Completion of the GHRIS is expected in the second quarter of 2014.

 â€œWe want to make it clear, however, that the DBM will not exert control over the personnel requirements of agencies. Together with the other members of the PFM Committee, we are only developing the software that will make payroll reform possible in the bureaucracy,” Abad added.

Under the reformed and digitized payroll system, agencies will continue to have discretion over their respective human resource and personnel requirements. This will be expressed in a Monthly Cash Plan relating to Personnel Services that will be submitted to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), which will in turn provide a payment file to the proper bank for the timely processing of employee salaries.

According to the DBM, agencies will be asked to establish Automated Teller Machine (ATM) payroll accounts for all their employees to allow for the electronic distribution of monthly salaries. Government servicing banks — such as Landbank and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) — will be prioritized, although other banks may also be proposed should Land Bank or DBP ATMs be unavailable for use in a particular area.

Apart from facilitating the prompt release of salaries and benefits to government workers, the NPS will also ensure the timely remittance of withholding fees to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Government Service Insurance System, Pag-ibig Fund, and PhilHealth.

Switching to electronic means for the management of payroll processes is hardly a new concept. It’s par for the course in the private sector, where companies are able to generate significant cost savings by abolishing check payments and the manual processing of monthly salaries and withholding fees. Similarly, the NPS will relieve the government’s human resource units from the burden of handling cash and manually keeping track of all payroll activities,” Abad said. – With Delon Porcalla