Financial Management System (FMS)
Although all modules of the Agresso Financial Management System are now in place there are ongoing enhancements to the system and during 2006 Monaghan County Council was a pilot site for the introduction of the LVP Card system. This work is ongoing and expected to be completed in early 2007. Monaghan County Council was also involved in the Cash Management System.

New systems including Agresso 5.4 Service Pack 5 and Planning Development Charges will be introduced during 2007. These along with the implementation of a new Costing System will mean that 2007 will be another busy year regarding FMS development.

Details of a new Personnel, Superannuation and Payroll System are expected in 2007 and it is expected that work will commence on this project towards the end of the year.

Prompt Payment of Accounts Act.
During 2006 a total amount of €662.78 was paid by the Council in accordance with the requirements of the Prompt Payment of Accounts legislation.

Financial Transactions
Alongside the traditional paper based transactions the Council actively pursued the move to more electronically based payment and receipting methods. There has been a good response to the utilisation of electronic payments for payroll through the “Paypath” system with 82% of all payroll payments being processed electronically. Also the use of Electronic Fund Transfer for the payment of creditor accounts was further extended with 44% of creditor transactions paid electronically representing 24% of payment value. 

The use of Low Value Purchase Cards was strongly pursued during 2006 and greatly reduced the number of purchase orders required for low value purchases, cutting down on unnecessary paper work. In 2006 the use of LVP cards accounted for 20.26% of purchasing transactions representing only 0.23% of the total value of purchases.

In relation to the payment of customer accounts the Council now accepts the following method of payments – cash and cheque, An Post Household Budget, direct debits, standing orders, credit card payments, Electronic Fund Transfers and An Post Billpay. During 2006 the use of Internet Payments was facilitated by Monaghan County Council for the payment of parking fines to Monaghan Town Council. The option of extending the use of Internet Payments for other services is ongoing.

Internal Audit
The extensive nature of the Council’s financial transactions requires that there be an ongoing review of the operations and records associated with these transactions to assure management that the Council’s internal controls, procedures and accounting systems are operating as they should be. This function belongs in the area of Internal Audit. During the course of 2006 the Internal Auditor continued to implement the “Strategic Audit Plan” and conducted extensive audits of the Council’s EU funded projects.

Revenue Collection
The Council’s 4 revenue collectors are the primary means of regular contact with the Council’s ratepayers and it’s housing rent and annuity payees and in certain cases house loan payees and water consumers. The collectors consistently achieve a very satisfactory level of collection that reflects their efforts and the cooperation that they receive from our customers. During 2006 the Council continued it’s focus on enhanced customer service and extended the use of Direct Debits, An Post Billpay and An Post Household Budget as additional payment methods.

Rates
A total of 1051 Rate Demands were issued for the year 2006 which resulted in a total levy of €5,138,094.05. This amount was raised on commercial properties having an effective commercial valuation of €98,139.93 and included the town charges for Ballybay. The Annual Rate on Valuation fixed by the Council for the year was 52.01 and 8.85 for Ballybay Town Charges.  

Housing Rents
At the end of 2006 the Council had 655 rented houses. The total for collection in 2005 from the tenants was €994,632.

Loan Collection
Redemption activity by borrowers continued apace during 2006, giving rise to early redemptions in the year of €630,000. The Council issued loans amounting to €6,935,000 and now has 667 loan accounts, which generated mortgage repayments of €943,571 in 2006.

Water Charges
During 2006 the County Council completed the metering of all non domestic connections. The Council now supplies water to 3,425 connections. Receipts for water charges in 2006 amounted to €1,148,729.