TALK WITH ELVIRA GARCÍA FEIJOO, DIRECTOR OF THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT
CHAT WITH| ELVIRA GARCÍA FEIJOO
Graduated in Economics and Business Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid, she has complemented her training with postgraduate courses and seminars at the Business Institute, the Center for Financial Studies and ESIC.
During her career at the Mutua, she has always carried out work related to economic aspects, first as director of Treasury and Assets and subsequently as director of the Accounting department, a position she has held since 1996. Her duties include the relationship and coordination of the official external audits carried out at the Mutua by the General Intervention of Social Security and the Court of Accounts, as well as the Organization of the Mutua's Accounting.
Director of the Accounting department.
F.M.: Director of the Accounting department. Could you briefly explain the objectives of your department?
E.G.F.: One of the objectives of the accounting department is to organize and plan the Mutual Fund's accounting in order to render the annual accounts in accordance with the regulations in force at all times. Mutual insurance companies have to be accountable for the Social Security resources that are entrusted to them and that they have to manage in compliance with legal requirements. At the end of each financial year they have to justify to the General Intervention of Social Security and the Court of Accounts how and on what the funds they manage have been spent.
Another objective is to prepare the necessary internal accounting instructions, the purpose is for accounting to provide updated, integrated, useful and comparable information in real time in different periods of time, either with that of the Mutual Fund itself or with that of other Mutual Funds, so that through its analysis it allows Management to make the appropriate decisions to make corrections to trends that allow improving management in those aspects that require it.
With respect to the audits and inspections carried out every year by the General Intervention of Social Security and the Court of Auditors, we have fulfilled the objective of providing with diligence, quality and integrity the information that these organizations require. We have also managed to establish good coordination and relationship between the information provided by the different departments when preparing responses to information requirements. We anticipate audit reports by detecting incidents that are immediately communicated to those responsible for the different management areas so that they can apply the appropriate mechanisms for their correction and, in this way, avoid possible adjustments to the Historical Heritage.
F.M.: And from the perspective of the PEC, how does the development and fulfillment of your objectives affect the fulfillment of the general objectives of the organization?
E.G.F.: By having the accounting updated, the management can monitor practically in real time the evolution of the economic magnitudes related to the profitability of the Mutual Fund and the rest of the management aspects, which will allow it to act immediately if deviations are detected that could negatively affect the results expected to be obtained in any of the management areas or center.
This makes it possible to inform the affected units in advance of possible incidents that are detected during the audit work; these can be corrected before they lead to adjustments.
By disseminating and normalizing in the organization the conclusions on procedural aspects reached by the audit of the General Intervention of Social Security, the Court of Accounts or the General Directorate of Planning of the SS, the collaborative nature of the Mutual Fund with the guardianship and inspection bodies is evident.
F.M.: During your professional career there have been reforms and changes that affect the management of your department. How are they addressed within a network as extensive as ours?
E.G.F.: At the beginning, accounting was completely decentralized and practically manual; in this context, any change was difficult to carry out successfully and its subsequent control was almost impossible. Currently, accounting processes are centralized and completely computerized through the different applications for expense and income management, payments, budgets, and inventory. This allows adaptation to regulatory changes to be more agile, simple, flexible and integrated and practically transparent for end users.
During the time we have been working in this department we have gone through three changes to Account Plans and the implementation of as many internal accounting information systems. The last of them, "Contaweb", is the Mutual Fund's "auxiliary" accounting system in which the complete information that identifies each accounting entry in detail is collected.
The most important change, from the point of view of accounting organization, occurred in fiscal year 2007. From that moment on, the Mutual Funds' accounts were integrated into the Social Security accounting information system, Sicomat. Since then it became the "official" accounting information system for Mutual Insurance Companies. Starting in 2013, the "Sicomat" application was modernized and renamed Pros@. Both accounting information systems, "Contaweb" and "Pros@", must be permanently reconciled and squared.
F.M.: You must carry out work that requires clarity and constant updating. Could you tell us what the most appreciated value of the department is?
E.G.F.: The most appreciated value of this department is the team that comprises it, made up of professionals who have a long career in the Mutua that has allowed them to accumulate experiences that provide significant added value to their technical knowledge, constantly updating them in order to be prepared to be able to face, in the shortest possible time, any change in regulations.
F.M.: Finally, how do you see the development of F.M. in the future?
E.G.F.: We are currently looking forward to the publication of the new Mutual Insurance Law. We hope that it brings changes and developments that will benefit the management carried out by Mutual Insurance Companies and, as a consequence, that of the workers and associated companies. Fraternidad Muprespa es una Mutua bien cimentada y económicamente fuerte, cuenta con un sólido proyecto de futuro de dinamización y modernización en los procesos de trabajo. This is permeating its entire organization through its first Strategic Plan, the results of which are already being seen in different aspects of management, resulting in an increase in profitability, as well as the satisfaction of our associated companies and workers with the services we provide them. This project, in which we are all participating, will allow our Mutual Fund to improve its economic data in the Mutual Funds ranking, in which it currently occupies third place, and will help it adapt without problems to any structural change.
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