Sammer Ahmad

 

Additional Accountant General Punjab

Department of the Auditor General of Pakistan

One-year Master of Public Policy Program (’12)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please tell us about your career path so far. What is your area of specialization and how did you come to work in this area?

Before joining the Civil Services of Pakistan, I served in the Century Paper & Board Mills Limited as a Process Engineer for four years.  After qualifying the Central Superior Service Examination, I joined the Civil Services of Pakistan in January 2005 and was allocated to the Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service. In this service, my area of specialization has been Auditing (Certification Audit, Compliance Audit, Performance Audit and Fraud Audit) and Accounting (Financial Statements and Appropriation Accounts). Since then, I served in various assignments and postings during the last 12 years in my department, so I have developed proficiency in auditing and accounting up to a reasonable level.

 

You are currently working as Additional Accountant General Punjab at the Department of the Auditor General. What are your main responsibilities and duties?

My areas of responsibility are supervision of Payrolls, Computer (SAP ERP system) and Accounts (Financial Statements and Appropriation Accounts). Punjab consists of 37 districts that are all linked by the SAP (System Application Product in data processing) system. In this way, I am the compiler of the accounts of the Government of Punjab. Financial statements and appropriation accounts are submitted for auditing and most probably we are able to get ‘Unqualified Opinion’, i.e. an opinion that financial statements are presented in accordance with applicable financial reporting framework, on the accounts of the Government of Punjab.

 

In your current capacity, what do you see as the main opportunities and challenges for Pakistan over the course of the next five to ten years?

In my current capacity I am of the view that the SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system should be extended to the DDO (Drawing and Disbursing Officer) level. By its extension, efficiency and effectiveness of the operations will increase but the challenge is the lack of capacity of the staff of various departments to work with the online SAP ERP system. For this purpose, extensive trainings to the departments would be essential. So in this way, I am visualizing a paperless environment of the financial system in 5-10 years.

 

You recently received a Letter of Appreciation from the highest officer in your department for your revolutionary idea on how to get rid of tax evasion. Please tell us more about this idea and how it is being implemented.

Before coming to Japan in October 2011, I noticed that while punching the data in the SAP system for making the cheque for vendors, suppliers and contractors nobody entered the Goods and Services Tax (GST) number of the vendor into the system. In this way, there was no identification of the vendor for its withholding amount and for the remaining due amount. We used to withhold 20% of the GST amount and the remaining 80% was to be collected by the Federal Board of Revenue. This percentage bifurcation was incumbent upon us while processing the bills of vendors/suppliers etc.  I identified that there was no provision for entering the GST number for further processing in the system. I wrote an article on this issue and emphasized that there must be some unique identification of the vendor/supplier to see the trail of its GST deductions and remaining amount still due. Keeping in view my recommendations, my department made the necessary configuration in the SAP ERP system and now tax is deducted as I suggested in my article.  In this way, evasion of sales tax, which although an indirect tax it is a major source of revenue in Pakistan, is curtailed and hundreds of billions of rupees will be collected additionally per annum.

 

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your work? And what have been the most interesting or rewarding aspects of your career thus far?

While e-governance is the need of hour to maintain the economy and to run the system efficiently and effectively, the reluctance of lower staff to work on the SAP system is the biggest hurdle. The SAP system will serve as a preventive control to avoid any fraudulent and irregular transactions. Preventive control is surely more effective than the detective and corrective controls. While using the preventive control (Role based control on SAP system) there are fewer chances of irregular payment. Lower staff like detective and corrective controls instead of preventive control because by using these controls they can manage the system for their own vested interests.

 

The interesting and rewarding aspect is that I succeeded in having the suggested use of preventive control implemented and in this way making the workflow transparent while minimizing chances of fraudulent and irregular payments.

 

What led you to GRIPS? What was the most important thing you learned while here, and how has your experience at GRIPS prepared you for future endeavours?

Before coming to GRIPS I heard about its repute so I applied and after a tough competition I was awarded the ADB scholarship for study in GRIPS. I really learnt a lot at GRIPS. Interestingly, my concentration area was economic policy. Before joining GRIPS I had never studied economics and related subjects but I worked hard and due to the friendly and knowledge sharing attitudes of all professors at GRIPS I was able to score good grades in almost all subjects.

 

The most important thing I learnt at GRIPS is the complete picture of the economy of a country and the globe and all the important actors contributing and facilitating the economic picture. I had an intensive training in accounting and finance after joining the Audit & Accounts Service of Pakistan so I was able to understand the integrated economic and financial system of the country. I am using this integrated understanding for optimum decision making at my level and I will surely use it in future while further moving up in my career.

 

How do you maintain a balance between your work and the rest of your life? And what is your favorite thing to do when you are not working?

I am fond of exploring and thinking about new knowledge areas. Nowadays I am working on getting a certification of ‘Information System Auditing’. This certification is pertaining to security of data and its related software and hardware components. Since my job is related to supervision, my SAP screen is always on at my desktop to watch what is happening with the data in my main office and in all the 37 districts of Punjab. My office timing is from 8am to 4pm. After that I spent time with my family at home. I usually go to bed early and wake up early and I like to explore new ideas in the early morning hours from 5am to 7am.

 

In weekends, I like to spend time reading various books on mathematics and religion written by original ancient authors.

 

What are some of your fondest memories of your time spent at GRIPS? And what do you miss about Japan?

It is hard to pick just one or a few highlights at GRIPS. Rather, each day spent in Japan is a pleasant memory in itself. Frankly speaking, these memories cannot be expressed in words. A few months ago, my friend of the ‘Inland Revenue Service of Pakistan’ spent one month in Japan for some training arranged by JICA. Before his departure to Japan I spent two days with him and told him about the wonders of Japan and Japanese people in detail.

 

After spending a few days in Tokyo he called me and told me that he had visited many countries but found Japan the best among all. But he complained to me that I had not explained Japan properly because in fact Japan is far ahead of what I had told him. Finally, he also admitted the fact that Japan is so wonderful that its amazing things cannot be expressed in words.

 

Each day spent in GRIPS contains a wonderful memory. I learnt new techniques like E-views, Strata. Moreover, I took Japanese language classes of all levels in GRIPS and these classes were really amazing. A book can be written on the memories of Japan in general and at GRIPS in particular.

 

If you could give one piece of advice to anyone considering studying at GRIPS what would it be?

I would suggest that everybody should learn discipline and the value of time and try to assimilate as much knowledge and techniques as they can because those knowledge and techniques will surely help in their future career. 

 

How would you like to maintain involved with the School? What do you expect from GRIPS as an alumnus and o you have any suggestions on how to further utilize the GRIPS alumni network?

All GRIPS alumni are linked on Facebook. I would expect that GRIPS would invite selected alumni for some further research purposes on its own expenses because I applied three times for some research purpose and while I was selected by GRIPS due to tough competition among all the universities of Japan I could not attain the fellowship. Competition should be among GRIPS alumni and not with all the universities of Japan.