Bahrain’s Finance Ministry has said its Central Financial System (CFS) enables the avoidance of spending that exceeds allocated budgets.

In a statement, the ministry said other benefits of the system include cost savings, avoiding duplicate data entry and providing a central vehicle for financial transactions of the government, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

This follows a presentation by ministry officials to an eGovernment Authority-hosted UN delegation representing 21 countries.

The delegation's visit was organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to gain insights into Bahrain's eGovernment experience.

In the presentation, the ministry said the CFS played a crucial role in managing the financial aspect of government work by linking ministries and government organisations through a set of Oracle E-Business suite applications.

The most significant of the applications is the 'General Ledger' where each ministry or government organisation is separately identified with its allocations, expenditures and revenues posted to the system.

These include 'Payables', which is used for matching invoices with purchase orders and 'Purchasing', which creates purchasing orders for goods and services and ensures that required financial resources are available.

CFS reflects the keenness to adopt best practices with regard to payment systems and financial management as a whole, the ministry said. - TradeArabia News Service