Rhode Island Asset Protection News

Agency Financial Management Systems Architecture

Agency financial management systems are information systems which track financial events and summarize information to support the mission of an agency, provide for adequate management reporting, support agency level policy decisions necessary to carry out fiduciary responsibilities, and support the preparation of auditable financial statements. 

Agency financial management systems fall into four categories: Core financial systems, other financial and mixed systems (including inventory systems), shared systems, and departmental executive information systems (systems to provide management information to all levels of managers).  These systems must be linked together electronically to be effective and efficient.  Summary data transfers must be provided from agency systems to central systems to permit summaries of management information and agency financial performance information on a governmentwide basis.

Subject to governmentwide policies, the physical configuration of financial management systems, including issues of centralized or decentralized activities, processing routines, data, and organizations, is best left to the determination of the agency to decide the optimal manner in which to support the agency mission. 

The physical design of the system, however, should consider the agencys organizational philosophy, the technical capabilities available, and the most appropriate manner to achieve the necessary single, integrated financial management system for the agency.

The agency systems architecture shown in Illustration 3 provides a logical perspective identifying the relationships of various agency system types.  Although this does not necessarily represent the physical design of the system, it does identify the system types needed to support program delivery/financing and financial event processing for effective and efficient program execution.

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	Did You Know?
	A Living Trust is an entity created for the purpose of holding and managing assets A Living Trust is an entity created for the purpose of holding and managing assets for the benefit of the creators of the Trust (the “Trustors”) during their lifetimes and then for the purpose of management and distribution of the assets to the beneficiaries designated by the Trustors. There are various reasons for creating Living Trusts: (a) To avoid probate administration on death of either Trustor. (b) To avoid a court supervised conservatorship in the event of lifetime disability of either Trustor. (c) To provide for the management and distribution of assets during continued administration of the Trust or upon its termination.