Beginning March 8, 2023, government agencies are no longer required to prepare and submit the Summary Performance Monitoring Report (SPMR), according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The SPMR is a report required to be submitted to the DBM by all government agencies concerned every 10th of the following month, originally aimed at gathering quick or flash report regarding the agencies’ budget utilization rates as at a given period (i.e., as of the month).
The SPMR is used by the DBM to facilitate evaluation of agency performance against their respective plans and targets. It was also envisioned to ensure availability of indicative accountability reports in a timely manner.
Essentially, the SPMR provides a summary of cumulative absorptive capacities of agencies in the form of obligation and disbursement utilization rates.
However, the DBM finally discontinued the submission of SPMR since the information contained therein may also be derived from other reports, among other reasons.
Reasons why the DBM discontinued the submission of SPMR
The SPMR was envisioned to be an effective financial and management tool; however, the DBM discontinued the same due to these reasons:
Reason No. 1: The SPMR does not provide complete and detailed information about the agency’s absorptive capacity
While the SPMR provides information about utilization rates (i.e., by appropriation source and by allotment class), it does not provide other relevant information such as utilization rates by program, by activity or by project nor by object class or by object of expenditures, which the same can be found in the Budget and Financial Accountability Reports (BFARS) in accordance with COA-DBM Joint Circular (JC) No. 2014-12 dated July 2, 2014.
These budget utilization rates are equally important in analysing the absorptive capacity of government agencies.
Reason No. 2: The information in the SPMR were derived from the BFARS; hence, there’s essentially duplication of data
It is noted that the summarized information in the SPMR (i.e., total appropriations, total allotment, total obligations, and total disbursements by allotment class) were derived from the BFARs.
Hence, it is technically duplicating the information provided in the BFARs which is also being submitted by agencies to the DBM.
The DBM said, since the agencies’ rate of compliance with the submission of BFARs is already high, the submission of SPMR may already be dispensed with.
Reason No. 3: The agencies are already submitting the BFARs online via the URS
The SPMR was required by the DBM starting around July in CY 2015. During that time, the Unified Reporting System (URS) is not yet fully functional; hence, the SPMR was submitted manually by agencies to the DBM.
It was only in 2016 when the submission of BFARs and other reports were required to be submitted through the URS, pursuant to DBM Circular Letter (CL) No. 2016-11 dated December 6, 2016.
What is the Unified Reporting System (URS)?
The Unified Reporting System (URS) provides a facility for online data entry and submission of the various reports required from National Government Agencies and its Operating Units.
The URS provides the ability to:
- create different reports
- submit reports for review and/or approval
- send back reports for revisions with comments of the
Reviewer/Approver
- submit approved reports to DBM
- for FARs, support uploads and downloads using Excel File
format
- search reports for viewing or modifications
- generate reports in different file formats
- monitor report status
- consolidate reports by Department/Agency and by
Division/Regional Offices.
Source: Department of Budget and Management
According to the DBM, higher quality and more detailed performance information have become available in a timely manner to guide implementation of measures to improve budget utilization through the enhanced URS.
Foregoing considered, the submission of SPMR is discontinued by the DBM.
Key Takeaways
- This decision of the DBM will surely help many budget officers/accountants lessen the reports that they submit periodically to the DBM, COA and other agencies.
- While the BFARs also contain the information in the SPMR, they do not at this time provide the utilization rates unless you compute them manually.
- The URS for BFARs may still be enhanced in such a way that it will also show the budget utilization rates previously provided under the SPMR.
Let’s discuss this further
We want to know your thoughts about this decision of DBM. Please leave your reactions in the comments section below. We will be very glad to discuss this topic further with you.
Download Circular Letter No. 2023-5 dated March 8 2023 re: DISCONTINUANCE OF SUBMISSION OF AGENCY MONTHLY SUMMARY PERFORMANCE MONITORING REPORTS (SPMRs).
