Quezon City is top Metro LGU in financial management

MANILA, Philippines - Quezon City again outranked other cities in Metro Manila in terms of financial management, according to Standard and Poor’s Financial Management Assessment (FMA) report.

City Treasurer Victor Endriga told Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. that the FMA attributed QC’s strong financial management, which includes revenue management, compared to other local government units in the metropolis.

QC has the highest reserves among all local government units (LGUs) in the country and has consistently maintained high liquidity coverage for its expenses.

The city also garnered an Intermediate Plus in terms of liquidity and cash management for having solid policies and system, although progress in this area is basic.

The report said one of the factors that helped QC in cornering better score in the survey is its management effort in trying to thoroughly eliminate graft in the tax collection process through the implementation of the full computerization of its revenue collection system.

“QC’s full computerization of its revenue collection systems highlights moderately more advanced practices in revenue management than other LGUs and its collection efficiency is slightly above the average,” the assessment report said.

The city performance in final budgetary outcomes compared to its initial projections also contributed in QC’s score, making it moderately better than other cities.

The posting of the city’s annual budget on its website was likewise a plus point for the city, the FMA said.

FMA also said that although the city has better revenue collection, its sheer size dictates much larger infrastructure needs than other cities in Metro Manila.

As of first week of September this year, the city has a total revenue collection of P8.104 billion, an increase of P763.582 million from its 2008 collection of P7.34 billion during the same period.

This year, QC also topped other cities in terms of net income in the Commission on Audit (COA) financial report of LGUs in the National Capital Region.