Information, not technology, is essential to accountability: Electronic records and public-sector financial management

Information technology is often seen by decision makers as a progressive me asure for promoting public-sector financial accountability. One of the key assumptions is that electronic access to information increases transparency and thus, automatically, accountability. This linkage is overly simplified . There is potential conflict between the objectives of providing efficient access on the one hand and supporting accountability on the other. In Sub- Saharan Africa, financial functions were among the first to be automated. M ore recently, information technology is being used to control and decentral ize financial systems. The improvement in financial accountability has yet to materialize. Evidence of this includes instances where corruption and th efts of state assets have gone unchecked. Many efforts to strengthen financ ial controls fail because the fundamental structures needed to underpin the m are often overlooked; this includes record keeping.