Finance personnel in various regional, autonomous, and branch offices in Bumthang will now function under one office. This will be done under the pilot Cluster Finance Services Office which was launched in Bumthang, yesterday.
However, the finance section of the Dzongkhag Administration will not come under this initiative.
The new office was formally opened at the National Highland Research and Development Centre in Bathpalathang. Henceforth, all financial works of over 580 employees of 14 offices in the district will be catered from the new office.
As per the Finance Ministry, the initiative is based on the concept of sharing of services by making the best use of ICT.
“In the current practice, there are many finance personnel who are the lone finance personnel working in smaller agencies, autonomous bodies, and regional offices, so in the absence of the finance personnel, the financial services in the agencies are being hampered but with this clustering initiative when someone is on leave such as maternity leave, some other colleagues could take over and then financial services will not be hampered,” said Tshering Dorji, the Director for the Department of Public Accounts under the Finance Ministry.
He added the collaborative effort of the RCSC and the Finance Ministry, is also expected to contribute towards the restructuring of the budget process as highlighted in the Royal Kasho on Civil Service Reform.
“We expect that through this initiative, it will try to enhance the budget process and improve the financial norms as enshrined in the Royal Kasho on Civil Service Reform. We are hopeful that this initiative will make the financial service delivery efficient and seamless to the users,” he added.
Likewise, the Cluster Finance Services Office for Paro Dzongkhag was also launched recently. Launched as a pilot project in Paro and Bumthang until June this year, the initiative will also be launched in other districts in a phased manner.
Administered by the World Bank, the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency are providing financial support for the pilot initiative.
Kipchu, Bumthang
