Centre for Promotion of Social Concerns

FINANCE MANUAL

After more than a decade of functioning, People’s Watch is finally coming through with a complete finance manual. We have grown over the years from a simple one person Accountant to a Finance Management System now managed and headed by a Director of Finance and Administration and comprising of six staff. We have moved from dealing with a few lakhs a year to a few crores a year. And due to the accompaniment that has been provided to us throughout this decade and more by our Statutory Auditor and then Financial Advisor and now Financial Advisory Committee, we have moved from a very simple accounting system gradually to a professional Finance Management System. We recall the role of Mr. M. Kandasami in this long journey of ours. We have realized therefore in this long journey that reporting and documentation is crucial in evolving a transparent accountable Finance Management System, the vehicle towards which is this finance manual. He finance manual exemplifies our deeper values of accounts and transparency that the organisation has held close to its heart in this journey of more than a decade.

The intention behind this finance manual therefore is that it is a simple guide to all staff members and the organisation to all partners of the organisation and all those who accompany this organisation in relation to finance like the Government, donors and such related organisations and institutions.

The staff members at the time of their induction are expected to go through this finance manual which will subsequently also be made available in the regional language not only Tamil, but now in Hindi and other languages gradually where we will be having more staff. These staff therefore, know what all they should know in terms of accounting and this will, in addition to procedures, also include formats that are being used by the organisation presently.

The finance manual has taken a long time to come. It was wetted several times by our Finance Advisory Committee, by our Board of Trustees and now is being published as a first draft with their approval. But this is always subjected to change and therefore it is up to you all to ensure that changes that are required are proposed.

I do hope that each one of our staff will go through this manual meticulously and will remember the hard work that each one of you have put for us to reach the stage of this manual.

The finance manual is a product, not that of the finance unit alone, but belongs to each one of you because it is your thrust in transparency and accountability that has led us not only to be transparent in our accounts with all of you, but also to ensure transparency in accounting procedures along with you.