The financial transparency of urban local bodies (ULBs) in the south Indian state of Kerala has increased thanks to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) project. The municipal corporations of Cochin and Trivandrum now publish their financial accounts online.
Published on: 28/10/2009
The ADB technical assistance (TA) project "Capacity Building for Municipal Service Delivery in Kerala" (2006-2008) assisted municipal corporations and selected municipalities to (i) improve their capacity to organize, record, update, and manage financial and other information on a routine basis; (ii) increase the efficiency and integrity of the data being collected; and (iii) promote good governance in relation to financial management. The TA project aimed to help ensure the sustainability of the investments under the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (Loan 2226-IND), a $221.2 million loan approved by ADB on 20 December 2005 and which became effective on 19 March 2007.
The TA project successfully installed and implemented municipal accounting software in five municipal corporations and two municipalities. As a result of continuous recording, updating and managing financial information on a routine basis using accrual-based double-entry accounting, they managed to publish their financial statement regularly.
Some of the major lessons are:
Read the full Technical Assistance Completion Report
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