ISLAMABAD: Secretary Railways Syed Mazhar Ali Shah Friday said that Pakistan Railways was now embracing the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a compliant accounting system, integrated through our advanced Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform.
‘This move promises enhanced transparency, global financial comparability and operational efficiency of the department which is a major step towards modernizing our railways,’ he said in a tweet.
It is pertinent to mention here that the installation of the ERP system would help in the speedy automation and digitization of Pakistan Railways. The department has taken several steps recently to move towards automation.
With this system, the most of the railway management issues will shift to information technology (IT). In the first phase of the ERP implementation, Railways would be completely paperless.
Under the system, a dashboard would be available to the chief executive officers, the secretary and the ministers for monitoring all the data g
enerated electronically.
In addition, the old systems cannot accurately measure and separate the financial performance of various railway entities. A modern commercial accounting system that provides reliable and transparent real-time information about costs, revenues and financial performance is needed for the regional railways.
It is also crucial to strengthen staff expertise in operating the system and using it to analyze railway performance. To increase productivity and profitability, railways need ERP systems to help them adopt more commercial approaches.
The system would enable the railway planners to maintain an overview of existing railway resources, such as staff or rolling stock. They can also identify more efficient ways to use them.