COMELEC Budget Watch Tracking and Documentation of COMELEC Budget Process TRACKING TOOL

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1 COMELEC Budget Watch Tracking and Documentation of COMELEC Budget Process TRACKING TOOL STAGE Planning (2009 budget) DBCC 1 determines overall economic targets, expenditure levels, revenue projection, deficit levels and the financing plan - How did the DBCC determine the financing plan and the economic targets for the year? - Did the electoral development/ reform agenda of the current administration according to the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) play part in the preparation of the economic targets? - How is the electoral administration linked with the overall development/ economic goals? - Is elections and electoral administration considered a priority this year? Interview with DBCC Chairperson (DBM Secretary) Review of the MTPDP; MTPIP; Minutes on DBCC deliberation that involve COMELEC Budget Budget call - How was the budget call organized to coincide with the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Organizational Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF), as well as the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) from ? - How did the COMELEC accord its budget proposal with the budget call? Budget promised/ committed by the Executive/ President (pronouncements, etc.) Examine document: DBM Budget call 2009 Interview with COMELEC Chair/ Commissioners and budget and finance officers 1 The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) is headed by the DBM Secretary and its members are the Secretary of Finance, the NEDA Director-General, and the Bangko Sentral Governor, with the Office of the President for general oversight. 1

2 What were the policies prescribed by COMELEC to make their proposal cater to the fiscal objectives of the year? Local budget planning - How was the budget for local offices (regional, provincial, municipal/ city) determined? - Did the local offices prepare their respective budgets? If yes, how did the process go from local to national? - How did the local offices affect the overall budget of COMELEC? - Were there participatory mechanisms (stakeholder consultations, etc.) in the preparation of local budgets? Proposed amount from the local offices Identification of local offices (in consultation with COMELEC) Interview with officials of local offices and stakeholders Internal consultations within COMELEC - How was the overall Commission budget prepared? Who were the officials and what offices/ units were involved? - How did the COMELEC conduct consultations within the office to ensure that each office gets the budget that they need? - How often did representatives of the different offices meet to discuss the budget proposal? - Were there transparency and accountability mechanisms in the preparation of the budget? Proposed amount by selected unit/s; Proposed amount by the COMELEC submitted to DBM Interview with COMELEC finance and budget officers; Interview with directors of selected units Review of minutes of meetings that were conducted to prepare the budget, including En Banc meetings Review of budget proposal submitted to DBM 2

3 Budget hearings - Who were the officials of COMELEC and DBM during technical budget hearings? - How frequent did they convene to discuss the budget and review possible revisions? - What were the standards used to review and assess the proposed budget of COMELEC - Were there changes in the proposed budget? On what grounds did DBM revise the budget proposal? Amount submitted by DBM to Congress Attend technical budget hearing Attend executive review on COMELEC budget Interview with DBM and/or COMELEC representative/s Review of minutes of technical budget hearing Review of COMELEC budget submitted by DBM to Congress Authorization (2009 budget) House Committee on Appropriations reviews the budget Senate Finance Committee reviews the budget - How many budget reviews did each committee undergo to go through the COMELEC budget proposal? - Compared to election year, did they conduct shorter of less frequent deliberations? - What was the extent of the powers of each committee in revising the COMELEC budget proposal? - How did the committees review the proposed COMELEC budget? What were the factors and criteria that affected the review of the committees? - What were the reasons for changes in the proposed budget? Amount approved by House Appropriations Committee Amount approved by Senate Finance Attend committee hearings Review minutes of the committee hearings Interview COMELEC representatives and congresspersons 3

4 Senate Finance Committee reviews the budget Bicameral conference committee - Was the passage delayed? What were the reasons for the delays? Committee Amount approved by the Bicameral Committee President Signing of the appropriations bill - Before the president actually signs the appropriations bill, were there anymore processes conducted at the executive level? - Is there a delay in the signing? What were the causes of delay? Amount in the GAA Examine GAA for 2008 Execution (current year) Financial and Accounting System (Central and Local Offices Procurement System (Central and Local Offices) - Are there manuals of operations for finance, accounting and procurement? - Do the units have internal organizational structures and/ or terms of reference that clearly delineate responsibilities and tasks of its personnel? - Do the units involved have written performance measurements and appraisal system? - What are the participatory mechanisms and are these utilized? Example: what are the means and ways to ensure presence of third party monitors? - How accessible are the documents in finance, accounting and procurement for outside stakeholders? - On procurements, does COMELEC have the following: (1) Annual [Not Applicable] [Not Applicable] Review documents/ manuals (financial, accounting and procurement systems) Interviews with officials of finance, accounting and procurement units checking (central and local offices) 4

5 Procurement Plan, (2) Bids and Awards Committee? - Are there capability-building measures for finance, accounting and procurement units? - How much of the finance, accounting and procurement systems are automated? Accountability (2007 audit report) Internal audit reports COA Audit Report - How was the internal audit report prepared? What were the processes? What were the units and who were the officials involved? - How pivotal was the role of the Internal Audit Office? - Was the report prepared and submitted on time? What caused the delay? - How did COA prepare their report on the COMELEC budget in 2007? What were the units and who were the officials involved? - How do COA assess how COMELEC delivered/ performed their expected outputs/ tasks? - How do COMELEC assess how COA delivered/ performed their expected outputs/ tasks? - What were COA s general findings and conclusions in its 2007 COMELEC audit Approved Budget vs. Audit Report [Preparation and Submission Timeframe] Examine internal audit report documents Review minutes of meetings and communications regarding internal audit Interview officials responsible for internal audit Examine audit report documents Review minutes of meetings and communications regarding COA audit report Interview officials responsible for COA audit report 5

6 report? - What did COA do in case of imbalances and mismatched accounts in the audit report? - Was the preparation delayed? What caused the delay? 6