Balancing a municipal budget can be a complex process. Revenues that come from several different sources must be matched to the needs of the municipality. Mistakes or miscalculations can keep personnel from being paid and postpone critical infrastructural improvements. With such an important task before her, it is comforting to see Snezana Stefanova nimbly navigate the Municipality of Kratovo’s new financial management software program. This software was designed by the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Decentralization Project to specifically meet the financial management needs of Macedonia’s municipal governments.
An employee of Kratovo’s municipal finance department for 35 years, Snezana knows that she is playing a crucial part in modernizing the municipality’s operations. Next to the computer where she inputs data to help forecast the 2007 budget sits Snezana’s old, hand written ledgers.
“For 34 years I sat in front of a stack of hand made spreadsheets, making copies of my work through carbon paper,” Snezana says with a wry smile. “This new system gives me a lot more options in how I present our financial status to my supervisor and the mayor.”
The new financial management system provided to Kratovo by USAID includes a network of two computers, each with custom-made software that allows municipal finance departments to improve municipal financial budgeting and to conduct capital improvement planning. This same system was provided to 56 municipalities throughout Macedonia. Kratovo’s successful transition to the new system was made possible by Snezana’s willingness to try a new approach and USAID’s provision of one-on-one and small group training.
“I was told that computers could make financial analysis more efficient, but I never worked with one before,” Snezana said as she presented her work, “It was difficult at first, but Sonja, USAID’s software trainer, designed the courses to match my experience and the lessons stuck.”
The decentralization of responsibilities from the central to the local government has brought a greater amount of revenue and with it greater responsibility to municipal finance departments. In Kratovo for example the municipal budget more than doubled from the previous year. Managing these new sources of revenue was made easier because the hardware, software, and training in financial management provided by USAID’s Decentralization Project came in sync with the change in revenue allocation. The goal of the Decentralization Project is to assist Macedonian municipalities as they assume greater responsibilities at the local level. This is done through training and technical assistance at the municipal level and support for legistlative framework adjustments at the national level. The result is more effective, accountable local governments.
This effectiveness can be seen in people like Snezana. “Under the old system it took me six months to prepare the municipal budget and annual financial statement. We never had enough time to make accurate forecasts. Now in just over a month I am almost done with both.”
Snezana has always worked hard. With the help of USAID’s Decentralization Project, she now works more efficiently to keep the Municipality of Kratovo running.
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