Faced with an inadequate financial computer system, Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga has called on the U.S. Interior Department to support funding a new financial system, because the current one no longer meets financial management and accountability.

Lolo’s request was made in a letter last month to Esther Kia’aina, the new Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas, in which the governor outlined a number of issues the administration is working on to boost economic development which need DOI support.

According to the governor, ASG’s current financial system “no longer meets ASG’s financial management and accountability needs, thus requiring the implementation of a new financial system.”

Therefore, he asked, DOI for financial support, but didn’t provide any other details.

Responding to Samoa News questions, the governor’s executive assistance Iulogologo Joseph Pereira says the administration has determined that the current IFAS computer system lacks the capacity to accurately account, monitor, and track the government's fixed assets, which in turn causes problems with the government's single audit, posing possible audit citations which could preempt the issuance of a clean audit.

“It has been discussed that other modules of the IFAS system to handle the above cited desire, including the generation of management information required for policy decisions, could be purchased and installed, precluding the need to investigate a new financial system,” Iulogologo explained.

He says the technical assistance grant request to DOI’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) would avail funds either to purchase and install the additional IFAS System modules— or to facilitate the purchase of a new financial package which properly monitors, tracks, and accurately accounts for fixed asset values.

“The reason behind the decision to revisit the current capacity of the existing IFAS System is the concerns raised and the number of ‘high risk’ citations due to the current capacity of the IFAS system to accurately account for federal funds and related expenditures,” Iulogologo explained.

“There exists the opinion that the IFAS system itself is not the problem but rather the failure of the system operators to comply with the systems policies and procedures,” he noted. “The [ASG] Department of Treasury is diligently and aggressively addressing this issue to isolate it from the actual capacity of the IFAS system itself.”

The preliminary cost assessment for a new financial system is about $500,000— depending on the cost of additional modules, Iulogologo said, adding that the grant request has not yet  been sent to OIA.

In the approved budget for fiscal year 2015 — which began Oct. 1, 2014 — the governor allocated $422,000 for the ASG System Contract for IFAS. The governor’s explanation, provided in the budget submission to the Fono, is that these funds are dedicated to the upgrade of the IFAS system, along with the incorporation and integration of new modules to facilitate comprehensive collection and tracking of transactions which will in turn produce management information “allowing us to to efficiently manage our financial resources.”

He also pointed out that one of the major factors contributing to the ‘high risk’ status is the ineffectiveness of the current system to capture and track transactions with a clear audit trail, thus providing transparent financial matters.