The Minister of Finance (Minfi), Louis Paul Motaze, is looking for a consulting firm to conduct an audit of public expenditure related to the dematerialization of cash vouchers for salaries and pensions. Through this operation, the minister wants to "carry out an in-depth diagnosis of the dematerialization chain and the entities that make it up, to highlight the organizational and technical flaws."

The firm selected will have to propose corrective mechanisms and make recommendations, "to avoid loss of resources to the State and ensure the protection of users," says the notice of expression of interest published by the Minfi.

Ultimately, the operation should lead, among other things, to the identification of the actors in the dematerialization chain, the evaluation of the risks and threats linked to this process and, if necessary, the production of a statement of undue payments.

Since October 2019, thanks to dematerialization, the payment of salaries and pensions no longer requires the production of the cash voucher (physical payment form), but only requires the beneficiary’s presence at the counter of an accounting station.

According to Minfi, "this approach aims both to simplify the procedures for paying public officials and to reduce fraud considerably.”

This reform saves the cost of producing vouchers. "Similarly, the logistics associated with the processing of payments with cash vouchers, which used to be cumbersome, have been lightened and payroll processing is now increasingly flexible," says Minfi.

But the switch to all-digital has its advantages and disadvantages. And the working group created on April 23, 2020 has identified weaknesses in the security mechanisms of the dematerialization process. Aware that "this project is delicate and sensitive, and that the stakes are high," the working group has recommended that it be audited.

The announcement of this audit comes after others, such as the audit of the government's domestic debt stock or that of service revenues, the results of which are still awaited.

D.M.