Time period

Dimension 23.1, 23.2 and 23.3: At time of assessment.

Dimension 23.4: Last three completed fiscal years.

Measurement guidance

The wage bill is usually one of the biggest items of government expenditure. It may be susceptible to weak controls and hence corruption. Payroll controls thus warrant close attention. Assessors should note that different segments of the public service may be covered by different payrolls. Every important payroll should be mentioned in the narrative and assessed in the scoring of this indicator.

Dimension 23.1 assesses the degree of integration between personnel, payroll, and budget data. The payroll should be underpinned by a personnel database that provides a list of staff to be paid every pay period. This list should be verified against the approved establishment list, or other approved staff list on which budget allocations are based, as well as against individual personnel records or staff files. Controls should also ensure that staff employment and promotion is undertaken within approved personnel budget allocations.

Dimension 23.2 assesses the timeliness of changes to personnel and payroll data. Any amendments required to the personnel database should be processed in a timely manner through a change report, and should result in an audit trail.

Dimension 23.3 assesses the controls that are applied to the making of changes to personnel and payroll data. Effective internal controls should: restrict the authority to change records and payroll; require separate verification; and require production of an audit trail that is adequate to maintain a permanent history of transactions together with details of the authorizing officers.

Dimension 23.4 assesses the degree of integrity of the payroll. Payroll audits should be undertaken regularly to identify ghost workers, fill data gaps, and identify control weaknesses.