Finance Update

We have now reached the end of our financial year and it is imperative for school principals to submit their entire outstanding invoices for 2009/2010 to the Ministry of Education for payment out of your school operations budget. Already some schools have expended their operation budget and any outstanding invoices will be deferred to the next budget or payments will need to be made from your school own funds.

Our new budget will be finalized by the end of July and we will advise you of your new operations budget once parliament approves the appropriation. In the meantime there could be further variations to the operations budget for the financial year 2010/2011.

Like other directorates, the Finance & Support Division has been restructured and renamed the Financial Management Division. All previous portfolios with finance and support services remain, with the exception of EduNet being transferred to the Information and Communication Technology Division. The new Financial Management Division will have two middle managers responsible for finance and asset management. The Financial Accountant / Audit Officer position has been advertised and the successful applicant for the role will be announced at a later

We are also upgrading our accounting system to the MYOB-EXO Network Accounting system to meet the outcomes of the Education Master Plan. The first phase of the upgrading has been completed with the second phase to be implemented in July and running live in August or September 2010. The new accounting software integrates various modules to meet financial and human resource outputs, such as finance and asset management, human resources database and payroll management.

In August we will commence our procurement schedule, requesting school principals to submit stationery and consumable needs for the next school year (2011). We will begin early this year to avoid any backlog of consignments during the festive period and to allow for early freight to Outer Islands Schools. CIIC, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, completed a review of the school refurbishment program for the Northern Group, namely Manihiki, Rakahanga and Penrhyn. Work-plans are now in progress for the next 6 months to implement these projects. Completion for the new classrooms in Omoka and Tetautua is forecast to be by the start of the new school year (2011).

We are also working closely with CIIC to address the refurbishment of Amuri School and to cater for our Teakaroa SDA School in Aitutaki. This school is currently operating out of two private dwellings. Teakaroa SDA School was totally demolished during the tropical cyclone Pat early in February 2010.