March 08, 2012
Accenture Upgrades Technology to Help Massachusetts Manage $45 billion Annual Budget
Commonwealth Raises Standards for State Budgeting and Forecasting
BOSTON, Mass.; March 8, 2012 –At a time when state governments face unprecedented challenges in meeting the needs of their citizens, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has implemented a new budget system and adopted standards that enhance the state’s ability to project and allocate financial resources throughout the fiscal year.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) worked with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance (ANF) to complete the Commonwealth’s annual budget process using the new “Massachusetts Budget Application.”
The system enhances the state’s ability to provide a uniform, consistent and comprehensive budget process for the state’s 156 agencies by creating a common approach to project budget needs and reviewing and approving budget proposals. A detailed workforce-planning capability now enables agencies to project spending by individual positions and full-time employee staffing levels.
The new system also provides administration officials with a powerful tool that creates the foundation for more informed decisions about allocations to support programs and services while providing increased visibility on how agencies match financial and personnel resources to critical services and needs.
“Our goal was to build a foundation for better analysis and continual enhancements of the state’s performance, leveraging information to improve outcomes and fulfill missions of each state agency as well as the Commonwealth’s fiscal responsibilities to its citizens,” said Matthew Gorzkowicz, Massachusetts undersecretary for Administration and Finance.
Additional features and benefits of the new system include:
- Ability to do detailed workforce planning and position-based budgeting
- All funds (Operating, Federal, Trust) budgeting and reporting capabilities
- Visibility into the budget development, review and approval process
- Detailed point-in-time capabilities that reconcile budgeted costs to actual expenditures
- Increased accuracy to project cash flow to better identify spending patterns
“State governments face new fiscal constraints and increased pressure to control costs,” said Pallavi Verma, Accenture senior executive. “Massachusetts has demonstrated leading-edge fiscal management and a commitment to its citizens.”
Accenture will continue working with the Commonwealth on other budget-related projects, including consolidating the state’s budget technology platform, implementing a planning application for capital budgets, creating budget management dashboards for state executives and the production of the governor’s budget.
Learn more about Accenture’s work with governments on cost reduction and budget transformation and delivering Public Service for the Future.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
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