Inspired Financial Management Solutions (PTY) Ltd is a 100% black female owner managed business based in Pietermaritzburg that focuses on providing practical financial management solutions to the public sector in the country. The company has been established in November 2018, with a vision to empower the public sector with financial management skills and contribute to positive change in the sector.

The company is led by Kashnee Sewnarain (CA) SA a qualified chartered accountant who holds 19 years of professional experience in supporting the public sector in financial management matters, including the provision of technical accounting training.

She is currently an active committee member as follows:
• Public Sector Committee - SAICA Eastern Region
• Regional Council Committee - SAICA Eastern Region
• Audit and Performance Committee – Umlalazi Municipality
• Public Sector Accounting Forum – Accounting Standards Board

In addition, the business has access to specialist resources including infrastructure engineers, supply chain management experts, valuation specialists and software specialists.

SERVICES RENDERED
Inspired Financial Management Services is strategically positioned to provide financial management support to departments, municipalities, municipal entities and public entities. A summary of its key services offered is indicated below.

Asset Management
Effective asset management, including accounting for assets, remains to be a challenge for many public sector organisations. They have the necessary specialist experience and require resources to assist you in the implementation of asset management systems and the review of functionality and modification in accordance with best practice processes and policy and procedures.

Financial Management Solutions & Audit Readiness
They understand the need to obtain clean audit opinions and they have the skill and expertise to provide solutions to the public sector to achieve this. Their approach will be tailored to the client needs and focused on addressing prior year audit qualification and disclaimer matters.

They are further able to assist in implementation of processes to enable clients to maintain improved audit opinions. Critical to improving audit opinions, is ensuring that the configuration and parameters on the financial management software systems are setup to transact in accordance with GRAP and mSCOA requirements. The review of integration between sub-systems and core financial systems, and the need to automate processes performed manually is necessary to reduce misallocations and improve the quality and reliability of transactional data.

Central to their approach, is a focused capacity building and development strategy that enables effective skills transfer to officials in a sustainable manner. Their capacity building programme is focused on both a classroom style foundational approach as well as a hands-on practical training solution, to enable all officials to perform their tasks effectively, without reliance on consultants in the future.

Financial Statement Preparation & Review
Inspired Financial Management Solutions is able to assist in the preparation of annual and interim financial statements in accordance with accounting frameworks and legislation requirements, together with supporting documentation and working papers. They are further able to review the interim and annual financial statements to ensure compliance with the accounting framework requirements. They further assist with preparation of the annual financial statements using CaseWare and fully understand the mSCOA requirements as per the National Treasury mSCOA template, for implementation.

Technical training & capacity development
Staying abreast of the recent changes in accounting standards for the public sector can be daunting for many organisations. They ensure that they are up to date with the latest changes in accounting standards and their approach to implementation of these changes involves both classroom training and one-on-one coaching, in order to build knowledge for life within their clients.

Municipal Standard Chart Of Accounts (mSCOA)
All municipalities and related municipal entities were required to transact in compliance with the mSCOA Regulations from 1 July 2017. The mSCOA implementation remains a challenge for municipalities, particularly in ensuring accurate transactional data and reporting.

Policies & Procedures
Process implementation is key to ensuring effective financial management within any organisation. They are able to assist in the development/review of financial management policies and procedures, including process reviews and implementation, aligned to financial management frameworks and best practice.

Revenue & Cash Flow Management
Effective cash flow management is critical to service delivery within the public sector. They are able to review the current collection model for revenue, including the accuracy and completeness of billing, and the management of water and electricity losses through the use of accountants and specialist engineers.