Given the limited scope of bringing in a slew of radical changes in the functioning, the department has been introducing incremental changes having the potential of delivering tangible results in the coming future.

1. Department of Finance plans to establish Internal Finance Divisions with inherent powers in each of the ADs to not only expedite and decentralize the process of clearance but to establish an effective expenditure management system in place.
2. Adopting better accounting and forecasting practices that result in lower revenue-expenditure mismatches.
3. Sustained and Consistent efforts are being made to increase resources and curtail expenditure.
4. Already many initiatives have been rolled out giving tangible results like IFMS, VMS, HRMS, GPMS etc. and Finance Department also plans to strengthen the existing and to adopt new technological innovations and systems for control and better management.

1. Finance Department would be regularly monitoring for any divergence from the targets and bring it to the kind notice of the Hon’ble Chief Minister/ Finance Minister office.
2. Implementing administrative and policy reforms aimed at providing much needed fillip to the own- tax revenue streams of the state.
3. The State has already implemented Development tax, Motor VehicleTax, Social security surcharge and revised its Electricityduty, Stamp duty and aims to constantlymonitor the efficiency and administration of existing levied taxes and taxation policies in order to increase its own tax revenue.
4. By bringing consistency and constantly monitoring the existing policy initiatives for additional resources for mobilization.
5. By expanding the scope of Disinvestmentpolicies and One Time Settlementfor enhancing revenue for the State.
6. Feedback mechanism is being deployed to assist its corporations and boards to take corrective measures beforehand.
7. Finance Department plans toassess the financial position of the departments/PSUs and review their working in terms of financial performance and take their action plans with focus on prudent management.

a) Prudent Fiscal Management
1. Consistently reducing its Fiscal Deficit to the targets set under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management Act, 2003.
2. Constantly monitoring the Administrative Departments (ADs) to keep the revenue expenditure in check & incur expenditure within the budgetary resource allocations and also by advising them to be self-reliant by generating their own resources.

b) Efficient Cash Management
1. Developed IFMS, for managing information system and an effective decision support system.
2. Integrated IFMS with E-Kuber, which helped the State in getting a real time status of its cash position. The Government of Punjab has already rolled out E-Kuber for payment in all the treasuries and the E-Receipts through E-Kuber are expected to be rolled out by 2019.
3. Developed HRMS for computerization of service records of Government Employees.
4. Also developed VMS, a web based application for creating a single database of all vehicles owned by the State in its various departments.
5. Developed E-State, a single database of properties owned by the Government in its various departments.
6. The focus is now is to expand and monitor of the aforementioned software and applications which will lead to huge cost saving and bringing further transparency in handling expenditure data ,employee& property data efficiently.

c) Effective Debt Management
1. Reducing the liability burden by investing in Consolidated Sinking Fund (CSF)/Guarantee Redemption Fund (GRF) of the state.
2. Diversifying issuances across tenors to reduce rollover risk and actualise interest savings in market borrowings.
3. Adopting measures like reissuance at opportune times aimed at enhancing the trade liquidity of state loans.

d) Robust Forecasting Measures
1. FD plans to organise more efficient budget by undertaking half yearly review exercise prior to revised estimates.
2. Allocating 3-year revenue targets to the top revenue generating ADs and 3-year expenditure targets to high expenditure ADs.
3. Using the top down approach for budgeting and strictly restricting the budget to be allocated as per the available resources.

e) Management of Societies
1. Finance Department intends to keep a check on their expenditure and limit the amount utilised by societies from 100% to 25% of the revenue and the rest 75% shall be deposited in the treasury accounts of the state government.
2. Finance Department would be monitoring the deposits and expenditures of the society for better management of these funds.

With the focus on increasing greater level of transparency and standardisation in the procuring activities, it was decided that the Uniform Act and Standard Rules should be framed to make the entire process standard and transparent.

The Finance Department has played a pivotal role in drafting new Public Procurement Act and Rules for providing clear guidelines/codes to the Departments. By bringing in place these procurement rules, the following objectives would be achieved which are as follows:

1. Standardisation of procedure by bringing in place a uniform legal and institutional framework for public procurement in Punjab.
2. Enhancingtransparency & accountability.
3. Fosteringcompetition in the economy and ensuring value for money.
4. Harmonising public procurement processes in public service.
5. Efficient use of state resources and promoting development
6. Making the public procurement fair & non-discriminating and thereby eliminating corruption.

The Finance Department is planning major transformative reforms with the intention of improving the work processes, delivery mechanism and infusing professional edge in its functioning. The CMM has already approved the basic concept of its restructuring plan and the department shall shortly submit its detailed plan addressing all these issues.

1. Rationalising Structure: Finance Department presently has eleven Secretariat branches and nine Directorates. The Department intends to better organise and trim this structure to bring higher levels of efficiency in the system.
2. Internal Finance Divisions in the Departments:
   The department has planned to establish Internal Financial Divisions with inherent powers in each of the department with an objective to bring better accounting practices and expenditure planning in the Government.
3. Domain Expertise: In order to deliver in a professional manner, the Finance Department intends not only to rationalize the structure, but also to allocate and recruit human resources with requisite domain expertise within the department.
4. Strengthening the Internal Audit: The internal audit checks currently are weak and the present setup at times results in duplication of efforts leaving areas of joint responsibility unchecked.Toincrease the accountability in State Finance, the internal audit wing is being strengthened using proper structures with an evolved mandate, requisite manpower and rules for effective implementation.

1. Taking initiatives for amendment in Recruitment Rules and enabling provisions for contractual and outsourcing recruitments.
2. Further monitoring of the HRMS software that will help the state in reducing divergences in estimation of expenditure on human resource and also to identifying the areas of administrative restructuring and rationalization etc.
3. Enabling provisions for creating posts or hiring staff as per State Central schemes and programmes, whenever required.
4. Maintaining discipline amongst Government Employees hrough conducting regular motivation sessions, adopting biometric attendance systems, setting up an active grievance redressal mechanism for employees etc.

The Finance Department is in the process of bringing in compendium of instructions and would be updating it regularly.

Annually instructions are taken out for proper budget utilisation and expenditure management.