POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Policies and procedures
A set of policies are principles, rules, and guidelines formulated or adopted by an organization to reach its long-term goals and typically published in a booklet or other form that is widely accessible.
Policies and procedures are designed to influence and determine all major decisions and actions, and all activitiestake place within the boundaries set by them. Procedures are the specific methods employed to express policies in action in day-to-dayoperations of the organization. Together, policies and procedures ensure that a point of view held by the governing body of an organization is translated into steps that result in an outcome compatible with that view

Several of the policies you need to have result from your obligations in managing people. Induction is a good way of making policies known to new employees, volunteers and trustees, but they also need to be systematically reinforced in a variety of contexts.

Policies checklist

Your policies and procedures should start with the Boards’ financial responsibilities and its governance model/style. The following areas are some of those that would benefit from written policies and be included in a financial management manual:

§ Board Members financial responsibilities

§ Controls on Expenditure- who can spend what and with whose authority.

§ Controls on Income

§ Controls on Financial Accounting - for example, who records cheques received and who banks them.

§ Exercising Budgetary Control - who can spend how much and on what and what expenditure needs special permission.

§ Controls on Human Resources - who can recruit and for what roles, what permissions are needed and who authorizes pay grades/scales.

§ Controls on Physical Assets - for example, who can authorize the sale, purchase and lease of buildings or equipment.

Defining good policy

A good policy is:

 easily understood and written in plain, jargon-free English

 has a definite purpose for its creation and is linked to your strategy

 is flexible, can adapt to change and is suited to the culture of the organization

 is developed through the involvement of employees and interested stakeholders

 is communicated to all relevant people.

How to develop a policy

To develop a policy you must:

 decide whether this is an area where the board or the executive committee should be determining policy

 arrange for a sub-group, member of staff or individual board members to produce a draft policy for discussion

 discuss (including consultation with board members, employees, volunteers and service users as applicable) and agree on the final version

 in the case of board policy, ensure the entire board ratifies the document and builds in a date for review.

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Integrated Financial Management Information System re-engineered

Originally introduced in 2003 the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) was re-engineered by the Ministry of Finance to curb fraud and other malpractices that stem from inefficiency. In re-engineering IFMIS, the Ministry aimed to put Kenya's financial and economic information in a format that was accessible from an online platform which would radically improve public expenditure management under the Ministry of Finance.
IFMIS enables fully integrated planning for the budgeting process since it links planning policy objectives and budget allocation.It also seeks to support the e-Government shared services strategy by taking government financial services online. IFMIS will ensure that status reports are readily available which enhances capacity to track budgets thus enabling effective decision-making. The three pronged benefits of IFMIS include leading to improvements in planning and budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and accountability and budget execution. Other benefits include aiding in the reduction in maintenance cost of government fleets in terms of fuel and spares where huge losses have been previously incurred.
IFMIS can also accommodate last minute changes on the budget more easily thereby increasing accuracy of presentation. Also, the availability of accounting information in a consolidated format will allow the government's books and those of the Central Bank of Kenya to be reconciled. In pioneering the re-engineering of IFMIS, Uhuru's Treasury provided the whole of government a way of dealing with corruption; an evil that has drained Kenya's national coffers of much needed resources. With the system in place, corruption could be reduced.

FINANCE STRATEGY

 

Finance Strategy and Reserves Policies

How to develop a finance strategy for your non-profit organization and the importance of reserves policies should be the central focal points.

Your finance strategy is a plan of how you will finance your organization and its activities, what money you will need and where it will come from. Your strategy should describe how you intend to move from your current position to your intended position

 Questions to answer when developing a finance strategy

§ Where are we now?

§ What are our plans for the future?

§ How will we get there?

§ Do we know what the risks are and how we will manage these?

§ How will we manage the competing demands of spending against savings needed?
 

Budgeting
-2009,Uhuru Kenyatta had his moment of glory in Parliament. He arguably presented a unique budget that was as different as no other since independence-

Board responsibilities cover many areas of operation, one of which is budgeting. Part of approving a budget means asking sufficient questions so that the budget is understood.

 Questions to answer when developing a budget

§ Does the budget reflect the organizations priorities?

§ What are the fundamental assumptions upon which the budget has been approved (ex. inflation rates)?

§ Who is responsible for monitoring and controlling budget expenditures?

§ What are the boards’ budget policies that govern the preparation and control of the budget?

 

Generating Income
-Mr Kenyatta, in his campaigns, promised to have the money set aside for a run-off given out to youths as loans free of interest to start income-generating projects-

Generating income is more than fundraising. It is about making your organization sustainable by establishing a range of funding (diversifying your sources of income), so that you are not dependent on one source. The fundamental question becomes on how to generate income in a sustainable way for your non-profit organization. Your income generation plan must ensure that:

§ you are raising sufficient levels of income to enable you to deliver your organisation’s purpose; it must cover all costs incurred.

§ you have taken into account any restrictions imposed by funders on how your organisation can apply the funds received

§ you have a sufficiently diverse source of income to avoid the high level of risk associated with depending on one source.

 

Funds received from funders for a specific purpose are known as

restricted funds: you are legally obliged to use them only for the

purpose for which the funder gave them to you.

In contrast, unrestricted funds can be used for any purpose that

helps you to achieve your charitable objects. The more unrestricted

funds you have, the more freedom of action you have. You can for example, choose to cover costs that funders are reluctant to fund, like core costs.

The discipline is the same whether generating restricted or unrestricted income and funders will require the same financial information of you. Some of the basic information required is;

§ Clarity that the organisation is seeking funding to meet a specific beneficiary need.
§ Financial details of your organisation.
§ How the funds will be used; e.g. what percentage of the funds will go towards core costs, salaries etc.

§ Your organisation’s ability to manage finance.
 

Sustainability and diversification

A good plan for generating income will aim to achieve sustainability by stabilizing your funding base, in some cases increasing your funding and diversifying your funding sources. Sustainability ideally means managing your income streams in such a way that if or when one stream comes to an end, the work can be repositioned, making it suitable for funding by another stream. Opportunities available to diversify income streams range from donations and grants to service level agreements or contracts to deliver services, to trading in goods and services.

Remember fundraising activity has costs associated with it, e.g. fundraiser’s time. It is important therefore that these are reflected in the associated budget plan. Diversificationalso has costs associated with it, such as increased management effort etc. You must therefore recognise at what point the benefits of diversification are outweighed by costs.

currently the president of Kenya, uhuru kenyatta is the former minister for finance.

WHAT IS FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

 

Finance Strategy and Reserves Policies

How to develop a finance strategy for your non-profit organization and the importance of reserves policies should be the central focal points.

Your finance strategy is a plan of how you will finance your organization and its activities, what money you will need and where it will come from. Your strategy should describe how you intend to move from your current position to your intended position

 Questions to answer when developing a finance strategy

§ Where are we now?

§ What are our plans for the future?

§ How will we get there?

§ Do we know what the risks are and how we will manage these?

§ How will we manage the competing demands of spending against savings needed?
 

Budgeting
-2009,Uhuru Kenyatta had his moment of glory in Parliament. He arguably presented a unique budget that was as different as no other since independence-

Board responsibilities cover many areas of operation, one of which is budgeting. Part of approving a budget means asking sufficient questions so that the budget is understood.

 Questions to answer when developing a budget

§ Does the budget reflect the organizations priorities?

§ What are the fundamental assumptions upon which the budget has been approved (ex. inflation rates)?

§ Who is responsible for monitoring and controlling budget expenditures?

§ What are the boards’ budget policies that govern the preparation and control of the budget?

 

Generating Income
-Mr Kenyatta, in his campaigns, promised to have the money set aside for a run-off given out to youths as loans free of interest to start income-generating projects-

Generating income is more than fundraising. It is about making your organization sustainable by establishing a range of funding (diversifying your sources of income), so that you are not dependent on one source. The fundamental question becomes on how to generate income in a sustainable way for your non-profit organization. Your income generation plan must ensure that:

§ you are raising sufficient levels of income to enable you to deliver your organisation’s purpose; it must cover all costs incurred.

§ you have taken into account any restrictions imposed by funders on how your organisation can apply the funds received

§ you have a sufficiently diverse source of income to avoid the high level of risk associated with depending on one source.

 

Funds received from funders for a specific purpose are known as

restricted funds: you are legally obliged to use them only for the

purpose for which the funder gave them to you.

In contrast, unrestricted funds can be used for any purpose that

helps you to achieve your charitable objects. The more unrestricted

funds you have, the more freedom of action you have. You can for example, choose to cover costs that funders are reluctant to fund, like core costs.

The discipline is the same whether generating restricted or unrestricted income and funders will require the same financial information of you. Some of the basic information required is;

§ Clarity that the organisation is seeking funding to meet a specific beneficiary need.
§ Financial details of your organisation.
§ How the funds will be used; e.g. what percentage of the funds will go towards core costs, salaries etc.

§ Your organisation’s ability to manage finance.
 

Sustainability and diversification

A good plan for generating income will aim to achieve sustainability by stabilizing your funding base, in some cases increasing your funding and diversifying your funding sources. Sustainability ideally means managing your income streams in such a way that if or when one stream comes to an end, the work can be repositioned, making it suitable for funding by another stream. Opportunities available to diversify income streams range from donations and grants to service level agreements or contracts to deliver services, to trading in goods and services.

Remember fundraising activity has costs associated with it, e.g. fundraiser’s time. It is important therefore that these are reflected in the associated budget plan. Diversificationalso has costs associated with it, such as increased management effort etc. You must therefore recognise at what point the benefits of diversification are outweighed by costs.

currently the president of Kenya, uhuru kenyatta is the former minister for finance.

UHURU MUIGAI KENYATTA

Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who was elected as President of Kenya in March 2013. He has served in the government of Kenya as Deputy Prime Minister since 2008 and was also the Member of Parliament for Gatundu South Constituency. Kenyatta also served as Chairman of Kenya African National Union (KANU), which was a part of the Party of National Unity (PNU).

Kenyatta is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president (1964–1978). His origin in Kenya's Kikuyu ethnic group has played a key role in his political life. His name, Uhuru, is Swahili for "freedom". He attended St Mary's School in Nairobi. From there he went on to study political science at Amherst College in the United States.

Nominated to Parliament in 2001, he became Minister for Local Government under President Daniel arap Moi and, despite his political inexperience, was favored by President Moi as his successor; Kenyatta ran as KANU's candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki by a large margin. He subsequently became Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. He backed Kibaki for re-election in the December 2007 presidential election and was named Minister of Local Government by Kibaki in January 2008, before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade in April 2008 as part of a coalition government.

Subsequently Kenyatta was Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister. Accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing crimes against humanity in relation to the violent aftermath of the 2007 election, he resigned as Minister of Finance on 26 January 2012

Minister of Finance

Uhuru Kenyatta was moved from the post of Minister for Trade and appointed Minister for Finance on 23 January 2009, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister.Since his appointment, he has spearheaded a number of reform measures that have seen a change in how treasury and government by extension transacts it business. These include:

Economic Stimulus Programme

The Economic Stimulus Programme, commonly referred to as ESP Kenya Economic Stimulus Program, was launched under the leadership of Uhuru Kenyatta in his capacity as the Minister for Finance. ESP is an intensive, high impact programme, that aims to stimulate economic activity, create employment opportunities, encourage innovation in wealth-creation, spur entrepreneurship and support the building blocks that anchor a healthy, educated and innovative populace.
Kenya Economic Stimulus Program outlines various objectives which include boosting the country's economic recovery, investing in long term solutions to the challenges of food security, expanding economic opportunities in rural areas for employment creation, promoting regional development for equity and social stability, improving infrastructure, enhancing the quality of education, availing affordable health-care for all Kenyans, investing in the conservation of the environment and expanding the access to and building the ICT capacity of the general populace of Kenya. In launching the Economic Stimulus Programme, the Ministry of Finance aimed to achieve regional development for equity and social stability.

Integrated Financial Management Information System re-engineered

Originally introduced in 2003 the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS)was re-engineered by the Ministry of Finance to curb fraud and other malpractices that stem from inefficiency. In re-engineering IFMIS, the Ministry aimed to put Kenya's financial and economic information in a format that was accessible from an online platform which would radically improve public expenditure management under the Ministry of Finance.
IFMIS enables fully integrated planning for the budgeting process since it links planning policy objectives and budget allocation. It also seeks to support the e-Government shared services strategy by taking government financial services online. IFMIS will ensure that status reports are readily available which enhances capacity to track budgets thus enabling effective decision-making. The three pronged benefits of IFMIS include leading to improvements in planning and budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and accountability and budget execution. Other benefits include aiding in the reduction in maintenance cost of government fleets in terms of fuel and spares where huge losses have been previously incurred.
IFMIS can also accommodate last minute changes on the budget more easily thereby increasing accuracy of presentation. Also, the availability of accounting information in a consolidated format will allow the government's books and those of the Central Bank of Kenya to be reconciled. In pioneering the re-engineering of IFMIS, Uhuru's Treasury provided the whole of government a way of dealing with corruption; an evil that has drained Kenya's national coffers of much needed resources. With the system in place, corruption could be reduced.

Funds for the Inclusion of Informal Sector

Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Fund for the Inclusion of Informal Sector (FIIS)which is a fund that allows Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSE) to access credit facilities, expand their businesses and increase their savings.
It also aims to help informal enterprises transition to formal sector enterprises through access to formal providers of financial services. The fund is a revolving fund through which the government enters into credit facility agreements with select banks for on-lending to MSEs through branches, authorized banking agents and other channels, particularly mobile banking.
It was launched in March 2011, and so far it has 3 banks, the Cooperative Bank of Kenya, Equity Bank and K-Rep bank, as partners. The launch of the fund seeks to address many of the defining challenges facing Kenya's national economy like unemployment, particularly among youths. Through the fund, the Ministry of Finance has undertaken the necessary steps to transform the SME sector to be one of the key drivers for achieving broad based economic growth, employment creation and poverty reduction in Kenya.
Its objective is to ensure that the MSE sector becomes efficient, innovative and has a diversified and competitive product range. It will also provide policies that raise the earnings and productivity of the sector and transform the sector into a more formal setup. Through directing the development of the fund, Uhuru Kenyatta sought to ensure Financial Inclusion of an estimated 8.3 million Kenyans working in the informal sector. These included 2 million in the Jua Kali sector and 5 million kiosk owners, mama mbogas and hawkers, with the rest in the informal transport sectors and the small-scale manufacturing sectors.

Investor compensation fund

The operations of the investor compensation fund which aimed to compensate investors who had lost money to defunct stock brokers such as Nyaga Stock Brokers and Discount Securities Limited were launched under his watch. In launching the operations of the fund, also ensured that the interests of future investors were safeguarded. The fund had prior to the launch of its operations been established under the Capital Markets Act.
This Fund is specifically meant to compensate investors who suffer losses resulting from failure of a licensed stockbroker or dealer to meet his contractual obligations. In both the case of the collapse of Nyaga Stock Brokers and the collapse of Discount Securities Limited all genuine claims within the statutory maximum of Sh.50,000 per every investor were compensated.
Uhuru Kenyatta also directed that interest on contributions made to the investor compensation fund be exempt from tax.

Treasury's Internal Audit Department

Through the Ministry of Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta initiated an internal audit on all donor-funded projects and found that funds given to both KESSP and WKCDD had been misappropriated. Together with the relevant ministries, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that the related staff members be suspended.
The government, through treasury and public financial management reforms, strengthened audit capacity as a result of structured capacity building and the merger of all Government of Kenya (GoK) audit functions (including those of schools and local authorities) so as to enhance their independence and effectiveness. The Ministry of Finance also issued a circular to bring donor-funded projects within the mandate of the Treasury's Internal Audit Department (IAD) with an aim of effectively monitoring the use of funds allocated to these projects.
On 13 June 2011, Uhuru also released a statement on the Final Foresic Audit Report for Ministry of Education and Ministry of Medical Services. The forensic audit itself was carried out between April and September, 2010 and involved the Ministry of Finance Internal Audit Department (IAD) with technical support from DFID. This forensic audit showed misappropriations in the named ministries.

Cutting government expenditure

In 2009, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that government Ministers, along with Assistant Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, should turn in their Mercedes-Benz government cars for Volkswagen Passats. In doing this he aimed not only to reduce government car costs to about two-thirds the price of a Mercedez-Benz but also to reduce the cost of running and maintaining these cars.
'Time Magazine' reported that, "Thanks to a government cost-cutting program aimed at saving taxpayers some $27 million, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced this summer that government ministers, along with assistant ministers and permanent secretaries, must turn in their ubiquitous Mercedes-Benz for Volkswagen Passats, which not only cost about two-thirds the price of a new Benz in Kenya, but are, says the government, cheaper to run and maintain.

Use of social media in the budget making process

The Business Daily, one of the Kenya's leading financial newspapers, reported Treasury invites Kenyans to 'tweet' their budget views. "Citing Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya, which recognizes inclusiveness as part of the National Values and Principles of governance, the Minister said he was pursuing a more inclusive means of formulating the document.... Within three hours, more than 300 people had submitted responses to the Treasury using an on-line document that asked questions like which sectors should get funding and how the government could increase its tax intake."
'All Twitter' reported, "In a move that might be the most social media friendly we've seen from a politician, Kenya's Finance Minister has asked his Twitter followers for their input on the country's budget – and promises to take their comments into consideration in the next draft....but this request from Kenya's Finance Minister goes above and beyond political representation to hear directly from the people.... This is a populist gesture which only favours those with enough money to use Twitter. It remains to be seen whether Kenyatta is a politician who is really interested in actually hearing from the people.
Uhuru Kenyatta's use of social media has superficially endeared him to the tech savvy community in Kenya but not to most people who cannot use it. Aljazeera's The Stream which taps into the potential of social media to disseminate news covered Uhuru's use of Social Media in their show.
The Minister also notably called on other members of parliament during his 2011/2012 budget speech to use social media to communicate directly with Kenyans.

Open government

The Minister released the budget estimates to the public through the Ministry website a week before the reading of the Budget and immediately the budget was read, his Budget Speech,  A Citizen's Guide to the Budget, were made public through his various platform. These are some of the actions that have seen him declared as a proponent of open government.