The AMC has outsourced its bank reconciliation work to a private firm, thanks to its finance department's inefficiency.
The AMC has outsourced its bank reconciliation work to a private firm, thanks to its finance department's inefficiency. What's more, the reconciliation has not been done since 2004-05. Incidentally, it's mandatory to match transactions on the basis of bank statements and bank book.
The reasons mentioned in a letter addressed to deputy municipal commissioner (finance), supporting the outsourcing of the said work to a private firm, shows the inefficiency of the AMC staff. It has been stated in the letter that most of the AMC staff are not commerce graduates and are not familiar with the process. Moreover, there is also a need to prepare a computerised programme because the number of bank transactions are large. The civic body boasts of e-governance but could not sense the need for such a software for such a long period of time.
However, the deputy commissioner of finance department, Utpal Padia, defended his decision to outsource the bank reconciliation work. He said, "We wanted the work to be done by a professional firm in the best interests of AMC."
Talking about the need for the software, he said the department is mulling over this and very soon a proposal would be placed before the commissioner. In the letter, it is also mentioned that banks are not providing statements on a regular basis, creating hurdles in the process of bank reconciliation. This shows the lack of communication between the respective department of AMC and banks.
Though the AMC staff have not been able to carry out this work for the last five years, the private firm would complete the work in six months, that only with the help of only six men. Out of the total 83 bank accounts, the reconciliation work of 80 accounts would be completed within three months, while the rest would be completed within six months, said the letter.
At its meeting held on February 19, 2009, the standing committee of AMC approved the proposal to outsource its bank reconciliation work from FY 2004-05 to FY 2008-09 to a CA firm, Manubhai and Company. The civic body will have to pay Rs3.5 lakh plus service tax for the work.
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