IFMIS is like a watchdog which ensures that county governments prepare their budgets and present them to the county assemblies on time for approval on how the funds are going to be spent.
These budgets are also received on time from the national government to ensure timely development as well as timely release of funds to the counties.
Any system, just like a computer, is only as good as its users. Whatever you key is whatever comes out. What the IFMIS users at the national and county governments feed into the system is what it works with, and what auditors use at the end of the financial year. This implies that IFMIS system works as commanded, the only difference being that once commanded, you cannot change it.
The system ensures that what the county governments have budgeted for is spent for the intended purpose and not diverted to other unbudgeted projects. If Bungoma County, for example, budgets for a latrine, it can only spend that amount. The funds cannot be diverted to buy, say, a wheelbarrow or market shed.