It's that time of the year again. As the company I'm working in just passed the 2nd quarter of our financial year, we are to prepare our maintenance budget for the next financial year. Basically we'll have our internal sits between supervisors of that particular section, discuss what our requirements are, undergo a series of review, scrutinizing, and challenge by the top management before the budget got sanctioned. All sections have finished consolidating our prepared budget, and we had an away day (2 days technically) at one of the hotels in Malacca, basically to go through everything all of us have prepared, and starts the bashing and questioning session. If you've never been through one of these reviews, trust me; it's brutal. You need to get your facts right, supporting information, and hell lots of moral support. To make things worse, other sections were represented by their managers, planners and supervisors, while I was all alone (my boss was away for a conference). It was ugly. The session was attended by all head of departments and head planners of each discipline, but the main cast of the bashers consist of the GM of Engineering, the principal engineer for Mechanical - Rotating, and last but not least, the Head of the Reliability unit. They'll look at this year's budget, year to date expenditure (to see how well you're doing), your expectations for next year, and hell lots of reasons as to why you're asking for more. We were there from 8am till 9pm for two straight days, and heck, it is not over yet! Another session has to be set. I'm mentally exhausted in the end of the day, and my section's department got slashed by about 40%. I just could not present my case better. It's just like a court battle. Who says being an engineer does not require you to act like a lawyer? Till the next post...
Oh yeah, btw we're also stressed out as we have to prepare our mid year review on our performance appraisal. I need to take a step back, review my KPIs have basically, try to 'sell' myself of my performance.....
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
15 October 2009
13 February 2009
Boy Oh Boy Will They Hate To Hear About This...
'They' as in our beloved G of course. I happened to read in The Star Online, that Malaysia has not been transparent enough on its budget information disclosure. Check this out.
Published: Friday February 13, 2009 MYT 5:02:00 PM
Updated: Friday February 13, 2009 MYT 6:06:14 PM
Malaysia's budget transparency: ‘Surprised and embarrassed'
By LOH FOON FONG
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia scored a dismal 35 out of 100 points in the Open Budget Index (OBI) 2008 and is ranked 53rd out of 85 countries, prompting Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Dr Ramon Navaratnam to declare he was “surprised and embarrassed.”
Malaysia is now listed under the “minimal information” category on Budget information provided by the Government, behind countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“I am surprised and embarassed to know that our Budget is not as transparent as it should be,” Navaratnam said.
“I urge the Government to make the Budget more transparent,” he said, adding that information should trickle down to the grassroots, especially those in rural areas.
On that note, he said there is a general feeling that people do not know much about the first stimulus package, and that the Government should provide more information such as which states and areas are getting the funds and who are getting them.
Foreign investors are also interested because it would reveal the risk factors in doing business.
Navaratnam pointed out that there were two main documents that lack public accessibility in Malaysia -- the Citizen’s Budget (a simplified version of the enacted Budget) and the mid-year review on revenues and expenditure.
He said he will bring up the matter with Treasury officials, and consult the Washington-based International Budget Partnership, the non-governmental organisation that compiled the OBI Index.
He will also consult countries that are doing well on ways to improve the Malaysian index.
According to the report, the minimal information provided by the Malaysian Government makes it quite difficult for citizens to hold government accountable for its management of the public’s money.
The Budget information used was based on information in 2007 and in providing information, with the categories being extensive, significant, some, minimal or no information.
Britain, South Africa, France, New Zealand and the United States ranked the highest in the OBI, where their governments provided “extensive information.”
It was found that 80% of the world’s governments failed to provide adequate information for the public.
The key documents that should be made accessible to the public are the pre-Budget statement, Executive’s budget proposal, Citizen’s Budget, In-year Reports, Mid-year Review, Year-end Report and Audit Report.
The survey covered 124 questions on budget development -- formulation, legislative approval, implementation and audit.
This was the second time the OBI was compiled, and the first time Malaysia participated.
To be honest, I'm not exactly surprised with this news. It's not like they have been open as to who is getting what, breakdowns of states receiving respective budgets, etc2. Even earlier when the oil price sky-rocketed, people started questioning of where do all the money earned by the government from taxes of PETRONAS (which is a huge sum btw) go to, instead of improving our own transportation infrastructure.
I bet there will be comments in tomorrow or Sunday's newspaper, condemning the survey as being rubbish, having inaccurate data and loopholes here and there, and asks the OBI committee to get their facts straight. It's a typical blaming culture if you ask me, and it would be better for the wise minds to sit down together and asks if 'we can do something about it'.
Published: Friday February 13, 2009 MYT 5:02:00 PM
Updated: Friday February 13, 2009 MYT 6:06:14 PM
Malaysia's budget transparency: ‘Surprised and embarrassed'
By LOH FOON FONG
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia scored a dismal 35 out of 100 points in the Open Budget Index (OBI) 2008 and is ranked 53rd out of 85 countries, prompting Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Dr Ramon Navaratnam to declare he was “surprised and embarrassed.”
Malaysia is now listed under the “minimal information” category on Budget information provided by the Government, behind countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“I am surprised and embarassed to know that our Budget is not as transparent as it should be,” Navaratnam said.
“I urge the Government to make the Budget more transparent,” he said, adding that information should trickle down to the grassroots, especially those in rural areas.
On that note, he said there is a general feeling that people do not know much about the first stimulus package, and that the Government should provide more information such as which states and areas are getting the funds and who are getting them.
Foreign investors are also interested because it would reveal the risk factors in doing business.
Navaratnam pointed out that there were two main documents that lack public accessibility in Malaysia -- the Citizen’s Budget (a simplified version of the enacted Budget) and the mid-year review on revenues and expenditure.
He said he will bring up the matter with Treasury officials, and consult the Washington-based International Budget Partnership, the non-governmental organisation that compiled the OBI Index.
He will also consult countries that are doing well on ways to improve the Malaysian index.
According to the report, the minimal information provided by the Malaysian Government makes it quite difficult for citizens to hold government accountable for its management of the public’s money.
The Budget information used was based on information in 2007 and in providing information, with the categories being extensive, significant, some, minimal or no information.
Britain, South Africa, France, New Zealand and the United States ranked the highest in the OBI, where their governments provided “extensive information.”
It was found that 80% of the world’s governments failed to provide adequate information for the public.
The key documents that should be made accessible to the public are the pre-Budget statement, Executive’s budget proposal, Citizen’s Budget, In-year Reports, Mid-year Review, Year-end Report and Audit Report.
The survey covered 124 questions on budget development -- formulation, legislative approval, implementation and audit.
This was the second time the OBI was compiled, and the first time Malaysia participated.
To be honest, I'm not exactly surprised with this news. It's not like they have been open as to who is getting what, breakdowns of states receiving respective budgets, etc2. Even earlier when the oil price sky-rocketed, people started questioning of where do all the money earned by the government from taxes of PETRONAS (which is a huge sum btw) go to, instead of improving our own transportation infrastructure.
I bet there will be comments in tomorrow or Sunday's newspaper, condemning the survey as being rubbish, having inaccurate data and loopholes here and there, and asks the OBI committee to get their facts straight. It's a typical blaming culture if you ask me, and it would be better for the wise minds to sit down together and asks if 'we can do something about it'.
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