CBE Financial Management Training for

Implementing Partners

Presented by:
Benjamin Kofi Quansah
(Grants & Finance Manager)
Purpose of Orientation
 Provide
guidance on the CBE fund
management procedures.
The Fund Management Procedures
aim to ensure that:
The CBE Programme achieves:
its ultimate outcome,
DFID’s fiduciary requirements,
value for money and results.
 CBE Team

TEAM=Together Everyone Achieves More

 CBE Team
◦ Four levels of Programme Financial Management
Support
(a) DFID
◦
◦ Provides the Funding

(b) Management and Support Team

◦ Provides oversight support

◦ Provides strategic guidance and advice to the
Management Unit, and
◦ Manages resource requirements across the
programme.
(c) Management Unit/MoE/GES

 Manages the daily operations of the CBE

programme and administers the fund.
The MU is to work with the MoE/GES and the
IPs to ensure that the CBE is fully
institutionalized at the end of the 3 year
period.

 The unit comprises

 Team Leader
 Senior Education Advisor
 Finance & Grants Manager
 M&E Manager
 M&E Officer
 Project Administrator.
 (d) Implementing Partners
◦ Implements the CBE Programme to ensure the
programme achieves its objectives.
Financial Management Procedures
 To ensure:
◦ Efficient and effective financial management
system.
◦ Timely execution and completion of the CBE
programme
◦ Ensuring availability of adequate funds as per
the approved programme plan.
 (a) CBE Financial year
 Follows the same timeframe as
DFID’s financial year
 Shall run from 1st April to 31st
March.
 Accordingly, the four quarters within
each year shall be:
◦ 1. April – June
◦ 2. July – September
◦ 3. October – December
◦ 4. January – March
 (b)Disbursement Request Forms

◦ All IPs shall request for funds by submitting

Disbursement Request Forms(DRFs).

◦ (DRFs) shall form part of a summary quarterly

financial report to be submitted according to
the appropriate template, with guidance
provided by the Finance & Grants Manager.

◦ The DRF is considered as an official invoicing

document received from the IP so long as it is
appropriately signed by a responsible officer of
the IP.
 (c)Financial Monitoring of IPs
 A risk-based approach will underpin CBE
financial monitoring, identifying those
contracts (or contractors) where there
may be greater scope for misuse or
abuse, and focusing resources
accordingly. Financial monitoring will
include the following elements:
i. Budget vrs Actual Comparison
 An individual set of records will be
maintained for each IP and each separate
grant they may have under the CBE
programme.
 As part of that data an Ms Excel Grant
Tracker will be held for each project, holding
records of:
◦ (a) All annual budgets,
◦ (b) Actual reported expenditures,
◦ (c) Claimed amounts,
◦ (d) payments made,
◦ (d) variations and deviations etc.
ii. Budget Virements
 Virement between budget lines permitted
up to 10% of the value of the respective
budget line.
 Virements greater than 10% require prior
approval from Finance & Grants Manager in
writing.
iii. Annual Audited Accounts
 IPs required to provide a copy of Annual Audited
Accounts. The key purpose of monitoring the IP
annual account is to assess the financial health of
the organisation and identify any compliance issues
which might have been highlighted in the report by
the auditors.
iv. Regular Surprise Financial Reviews
Finance & Grants Manager will, at least
once in each half of a year, carry out
surprise on-the-spot visits to IP offices.
v. Audited Annual Financial Accounts
◦ As a condition of funding, all IPs are required to
maintain books of accounts that can identify CBE
programme funds and expenditures to facilitate
reconciliation and provide an audit trail.

◦ All funded IPs are required to have their annual

financial reports audited by an independent auditor
contracted by Crown Agents and reporting to Crown
Agents and the CBE MU. Audits will be scheduled
twice a financial year; the first audit will be
conducted after 6 months, in October, and the
second audit will be conducted at final year, in April.
 The audit should include:
 An assessment of the adequacy of the
accounting and internal controls system for
financial reporting, safeguarding of assets and to
monitor expenditures and financial transactions.
 A determination of whether proper financial
records have been kept for all relevant
transactions.
 An identification that the expenditures incurred
are eligible for CBE financing and identify all
ineligible expenses.
 A determination of whether the cash and bank
balance indicated as being on hand in the
financial statements is represented by cash in
the bank account.
vi. Payment Procedures
 Funds will be disbursed to IPs on
quarterly basis in advance/arrears

 Any funding disbursement will be made

following the receipt of a Disbursement
Request Form and each shall cover a
quarter’s worth of financial needs.
 Coverage of Disbursements:
All payments submitted by and made to
IPs shall cover a specific quarter i.e. Apr-
Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec, or Jan-Mar. It shall
be made in no other format than on the
Disbursement Request Form.
 Frequency of DFID Invoicing:
◦ The MU will batch and process only one invoice
to DFID each quarter.
◦ All IPs to submit their Disbursement Request
Form to reach the Finance & Grants Manager
no later than the 15th of the last month of
each quarter. Requests received after 15th
will NOT be processed until the next quarter.
The DRF shall cover:
◦ Budget approved for the cycle
◦ Budget approved for the financial year
◦ Actual funds released by DFIF/Crown Agents
◦ Actual expenditure incurred( quarterly
expenditure and cumulative)
◦ Forecast for the next quarter
Detailed review of invoices:
 Once the invoice meets the initial
administrative checks, it will be carefully
reviewed by the Finance & Grants Manager.
 The review of invoices will be done with input
from the M&E team, who will provide
evidence on what degree of completion the
project has achieved. This will then be
matched against expenditures being claimed.
If queries are raised this will be promptly
communicated to the IP until a satisfactory
review is achieved.
Consolidated invoice record:
 The Finance & Grants Manager prepares a DFID
invoice spreadsheet listing all the DRFs received
and that includes the following details:
◦ Name of IP;
◦ The CBE Reference No.;
◦ Contract value for the IP;
◦ Total Disbursements made to date to the IP;
◦ Total CBE Amounts reported as spent by the IP;
◦ Amount of funding being claimed during the specific
quarter; and
◦ The period covered by the current disbursement.
 Financial Reporting Templates
 Sample Budget Template
 Sample Disbursement Request Form
 Sample Financial Report- Quarterly and
Annual
 Variance Report