SCHOOL OF GRADUATES STUDIES

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY
Declaration
I, the undersigned, declare that this MSc thesis is my original work and has not been
presented for a degree in any other university. Any expression, thoughts, research results
references, and/or bibliograph ies cited in the work have been fully acknowledged.
Therefore, I confirm that the intellectual content of this work is the result of my own efforts and
prepared under the guidance of my advisors.

Name: Firew Feleke

Place: School of Accounting & Management, Hawassa University, Hawassa/Ethiopia

Sign: ………………………………………..
Date: ………………………………………..
 ADVISORS’ APPROVAL SHEET

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “The Benefits and Challenges of Pooled Financial
Accounting System in Public Sectors a Case of Hawassa City Administration” submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements of the award of the degree of Master of Science in
Accounting and Finance, the Graduate Program of the School of Management and Accounting,
and has been carried out by Firew Feleke Demissie Id. No ACFNW/031/07, under my/our
supervision. Therefore I/we recommend that the student has fulfilled the requirements and hence
hereby can submit the thesis to the school of management and Accounting.

________________________ _________________
Name of Principal advisor Signature Date

________________________ _________________
Name of co-advisor Signature Date
 SCHOOL OF GRADUATES STUDIES
HAWASSA UNIVERSITY
EXAMINERS’ APPROVAL SHEET
===============================================================
We, the undersigned, members of the Board of Examiners of the final open defense by Firew
Feleke have read and evaluated his thesis entitled “The Benefits and Challenges of Pooled
Financial Accounting System in Public Sectors a Case of Hawassa City Administration”,
and examined the candidate. This is, therefore, to certify that the thesis has been accepted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Accounting and
Finance.
_________________ ________________
Name of the Chairperson Signature Date
__________________________ ______________
Name of Principal Advisor Signature Date
___________________________ ______________
Name of Co- Advisor Signature Date
______________________ _________________
Name of Internal Examiner Signature Date
________________________ _________________
Name of External examiner Signature Date
________________________ _______________________ ____________
SGS Approval Signature Date

Final approval and acceptance of the thesis is contingent upon the submission of the final copy of
the thesis to the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) through the School Graduate Committee
(DGC/SGC) of the candidate’s department.

Stamp of SGS Date: ______________

 Acknowledgments
First of all, I would like to thank the almighty God and Virgin Mary helped me in all aspects of
my life, giving for me faith and immense devotion for the accomplishment of this thesis work.

Next, I would like to express my special gratitude and respect towards my thesis advisor Mr.
Tamirat L. and co advisor Ms. Menbere A. for their patience in repeatedly reading the draft
manuscript of this study and for making constructive comments and suggestions.

Also very special and unique appreciation have to go to the managements and staffs of
Hawassa city Administration Public Sector Organizations. It was impossible to complete this
thesis without their kind support.

Further, I would like to extend my grateful acknowledgement to my family members, especially

my wife, Genet Lakew for her imperative support and encouragement to pursue this degree.

Firew Feleke
 Abstract
This study has been conducted to assess the benefits and challenges of pooled financial
accounting system in Hawassa city administration. To conduct the study qualitative
research method was employed. The researcher selected sample of 110 target
respondents for Hawassa city public sector organizations by using non probability
sampling (purposive sampling)and 28 respondents for Hawassa city Finance and
economic development office budgeting and development planning and economic
management department, expenditure department and procurement and finance
department by taking the whole population from the departments. Primary and
secondary data have been used; the primary data were collected through questioner and
interview. The secondary data were collected from literature review,different directives
and consultancy work ; The tool used for the data analysis is SPSS 20; The main findings
in this research from Hawassa city public sectors were:-under pool system there is weak
budget administration and expenditure management, impossible to utilize the budget
properly, slow additional budget response, no professional support and follow-up from
Hawassa city finance office, very weak payment request response, too much working time
wastage to take payment on public sector staffs, very weak procurement system, the
procurement is not preplanned, the goods/services purchased are not quality and
standard, in relation to procurement the Hawassa city finance office is not ready to
accept the complain and take correction action and not liable for that, because of bulk
purchase corruption might happen, needs enough personnel to administer the budget, to
manage the expenditure and made procurement, violation of rules and regulations will
not happen if the public sectors administer ever thing, overall the public sectors attitude
were negative on pooled financial accounting system but the Hawassa city finance office
are very positive to the pool system, here the budget administration and expenditure
management is in good status, quick additional budget response, the public sectors
utilize their budget very well, good payment request response, good procurement system,
the goods/services purchased are quality and standard, the procurement is according to
planned time table, even if there is bulk purchase no corruption, if the public sector
administer their budget or manages the expenditure or did the procurement defiantly
violation of rules and regulation happen; the researcher recommend the following
points: It is better to establish finance and procurement supportive work process owner
department in each public sectors or categorizing the public sector organizations into
related field area and establishing finance and procurement supportive work process
owner department, extensive auditing needs by Hawassa city finance office for the
establish finance and procurement supportive work process owner, finally the policy
maker have to dig out and reconcile the extremes between the public sectors and the city
finance office.

Key Words: Pool System, budgeting, Expenditure management and procurement process.
List of abbreviation

BoFED – Bureau of Finance and Economic Development

CABRI – Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative
COSO – Committee of Sponsoring Organizations
DFID - Department for International Development
DSA – Decentralization Support Activity
EMC – Ethiopian Expenditure Management & Control
EMCP – Expenditure Management and Control Program
FDRoE- Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
FQ - Frequency
GFSM - Government Financial Statistics Manual
IBEX – Integrated Budget and Expenditure
ICMA – Institute of Cost and Management Accounting
IFMIS - Integrated Financial Management Information System
IMF – International Monetary Fund
MDGS- Millennium Development Goals
MTEF – Medium Term Expenditure Framework
OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
PBB – Program - based Budgeting
PFM – Public Finance Management
PRS – Poverty Reduction Strategy
PRSPS – Poverty Reduction Strategies Programs
SCRP – Civil Service Reform Program
SNNPR – Southern Nations Nationalities and peoples region
WB - World Bank