Psalm Wins Agap Awards

26 Oct 2005

The Controllership Department of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) was recently named one of the most outstanding accounting offices for Calendar Year 2004 under the government corporate sector for being efficient, reliable, accurate and complete in the preparation and submission of its financial documents to the Commission on Audit (COA).

The award was given by the Association of Government Accountants of the Philippines (AGAP), a 10,000-strong organization whose vision is to ensure the professional growth and education of the financial sector, specifically involving current trends in budget and finance, including pressing issues in the domestic economy. AGAP, in coordination with COA and the Department of Budget and Management, has been handing out the awards since 1992 in three categories: the national government sector, the local government units and the government corporate sector.

Nominated by the Philippine Association of Corporate State Auditors, PSALM, which shared the award with the Trade and Investment Development Corp. (TIDCOR), was chosen from hundreds of entries evaluated by COA’s field auditors who are in the best position to assess the transactions entered in corporate financial reports. The evaluations were based on four criteria set by AGAP: timeliness (20%), reliability and completeness (20%), compliance with accounting procedures and requirements (20%), and accuracy (40%). COA, which this year headed the evaluation and selection committee, sought five finalists for the government corporate sector based on the criteria, but only PSALM and TIDCOR made the grade.

The AGAP Awards will be the highlight of the association’s annual convention and seminar which will be held on Oct. 26-28 at the Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center in Iloilo City .

“The AGAP Award is a fitting recognition to the dedication and hard work that the members of the controllership department give to their jobs because I know the degree of difficulty involved in the preparation of financial documents,” said PSALM President Ms. Nieves L. Osorio. “It also reaffirms the corporation’s commitment to transparency, particularly in its dealings with the external public. To paraphrase an old accounting adage: PSALM is an open book.”

Having come from the financial sector, Ms. Osorio, upon her assumption of the PSALM presidency, immediately reviewed the corporation’s various financial documents. She was pleasantly surprised at the conscientiousness displayed by the staff of the Controllership Department in fulfilling their respective responsibilities. As Ms. Lourdes S. Alzona, PSALM controllership department manager, put it: “Natuwa si President Osorio sa ginagawa namin (President Osorio was elated with the job we were doing).”

Ms. Alzona disclosed that the whole department consisting of General Accounting and Financial Management and Analysis, or a complement of 14 employees, was visibly delighted upon learning of the award, considering that it was the first time PSALM entered the competition.

“We were all excited because we didn’t have any expectations,” she said. “For the corporation, we see the award as a good way of further enhancing its image. For us, specifically, we see it as an incentive to preserve the trust that PSALM and its clients continue to give us.”

Asked what factors bolstered AGAP’s choice, Ms. Alzona cited PSALM’s support and adoption of the New Government Accounting System that COA Chairman Guillermo N. Carague described as a “much simpler and easier to understand system” that involves the computerization of virtually all financial documents and transactions.

“We’ve always had a good working relationship with COA,” she said, primarily because we communicate and comply with their requirements, managing to meet all the deadlines set.”

Alzona pointed out that the award would not have been possible without the teamwork displayed by the staff of the Controllership Department. “This achievement belongs not only to the department’s current staff but also to its former staffers who were transferred to other departments,” she said. “I particularly cite Financial Services headed by Mr. Cesar Ramirez who was the former controller.”

Corazon Saldivar, state auditor 5 in charge of COA’s national division, confirmed that it’s an achievement to receive the AGAP Award because not all accounting units get the recognition, especially in the government corporate sector where accounting units are numerous.

“If you are recognized, it means you are timely in the submission of your reports, these reports are reliable and comply with rules and procedures and most important, they are accurate,” she said. “These criteria are difficult to attain.”