Nigeria is a country blessed with natural resources that have already made it an influential player in Africa`s emergence onto the world economic stage. Yet, with all its potential, a lack of financial controls and ineffective management of its federal, state and local government accounts have prevented the country from more efficiently controlling its resources and hence its economic upliftment.
After years of searching for the optimal solution to its inefficient paper-based accounting procedures, the Nigerian government has selected Pastel Accounting. The Nigerian government, working with Mold Computers and Communication Limited, a distributor of Softline Pastel products in Nigeria, has embarked on a project to computerise its accounting processes. Central to the project is the implementation of Pastel Accounting Partner 2004, which will be utilised in all government departments.
To date, there has been no computerised accounting system in place and the Nigerian revenues services department has had to manually correlate information. This has proven inaccurate and time-consuming as each Nigerian citizen must be provided with a paper receipt. Once implemented, the computerised accounting systems will relieve the inaccuracy and inefficiency of the current financial processing system.
Due to the importance and scale of the project, selection of the correct accounting solution was paramount. The government had specific requirements that few foreign software development companies could meet. Additionally, the scope of the project was enormous: Nigeria`s government required a cost-effective solution that could streamline its more than 80 line ministries, each having its own specific requirements.
In addition, the Nigerian government has unique laws governing accounting practices, constitutional provisions and federal allocation committees. It was therefore imperative to find an accounting application that could deliver a solution that is able to meet each party`s requirements and consolidate the financial information.
Emmanuel O Onyekwere, the owner of Mold Computers and Communication Limited, has been working on finding an appropriate solution for the past two years in an effort to educate government as to the many benefits of computerised accounting software.
In 1999, Onyekwere began a comprehensive analysis of the Nigerian government`s accounting data. This analysis took an immense amount of time due to the accumulated paper data in various departments. Following this process, Onyekwere advised the government of the most appropriate solution available to it - that being Pastel Accounting - and it agreed to a two-year pilot phase to ascertain the product`s efficiencies.
Onyekwere said: "Pastel Accounting Partner is definitely the software of choice as it is a feature-rich, robust, multi-user application, with multi-currency capability as well as a highly intuitive interface. The real benefit of Pastel Accounting for the Nigerian government, however, is the assurance that as the operation grows and begins to demand more sophisticated features and functionality, Pastel Accounting gives it the ability to easily add users and modules."
The successful completion of the pilot project convinced the government and all departments to procure and implement Pastel Accounting. "The steps we took to educate and highlight the benefits of computerised accounting solutions have demonstrated the return on investment (ROI) the government wanted," Onyekwere adds.
Nigeria operates very differently from many other African countries in that the public sector drives the private sector. With the government implementing and endorsing a particular computerised accounting system, it won`t be long before it is also implemented by the private sector. This will ensure computerised accounting systems for the private and public sector, driving efficiency in businesses and therefore economic growth.
Softline Pastel is committed to playing a role in the development of the economies of the African countries in which it operates. "The decision to implement Pastel Accounting across all Nigerian government departments is a great accolade for us," says Jeff Lewis, Director of Pastel International. "I am excited about the prospect that Pastel had the solution available for the Nigerian government and such an implementation proves that we are the leading accounting software choice for many African countries."
Softline Pastel is SA`s leading developer of accounting, payroll and related software applications. Pastel has over 160 000 users worldwide and is currently sold in more than 40 countries. The software is available in six different languages including Dutch, English, French, German, Icelandic and Portuguese.
For more information, please visit the Softline Pastel Web site at www.pastel.co.za.
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