The Rostrum    By ROLAND W. BURRIS

Upgrade accounting system — now

THE year was 1973.

Richard Nixon was sworn in for a second term as president. Archie Bunker and his "All in the Family" television series were riding high on the tube. The Oakland A's, led by a brash young slugger named Reggie Jackson, were constructing baseball's last true dynasty.

Closer to home, the newly created office of Illinois' Comptroller was establishing an accounting system to manage the Prairie State's budget, which had escalated to an unheard-of level of $10 billion.

In the years since, change and age have taken their toll. Richard Nixon, of course, resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal. "All in the Family" and Archie Bunker have retired to television syndication and Reggie Jackson struggles to squeeze out just one more year by squeezing his 40-year-old frame into a California Angels' uniform.

In Illinois, the state budget has nearly doubled since 1973, and state government has developed into a strapping, full-time business. In the 13 years since Comptroller George W. Lindberg developed the Comptrollers' Uniform Statewide Accounting System (CUSAS), Illinois and the nation have witnessed an explosion of growth and technological advancement.

Word processing terminals and keyboards today sit where typewriters were once the staple. Entire continents are today linked by satellite networks which dispatch information across the seas at the speed of light. We live, it cannot be argued, in an age of technological wonder. The technology which today serves us as well as dominates us has virtually exploded in the last decade and a half.

Illinois today is at a crossroads in its abilities to handle fiscal matters. We have the option to continue with our current system of statewide financial accounting — CUSAS. Or we can keep pace with that technological explosion and establish a state-of-the-art accounting system for state government.

CUSAS has served Illinois well for 13 years. Its sole advantage, however, is the fact that the system is already paid for. We can continue to monitor our fiscal affairs with the current CUSAS system, but to do so would be to saddle ourselves with an outdated technology and costly duplicative processing capabilities.

We must address the problem of maintaining a fiscal operations network that is daily falling behind technology. Can Illinois afford to handle its financial matters with the same system that was installed to track just half the state's current budget? Can we afford, as a state, to conduct a $20-billion business while relying on an accounting system that is cumbersome at best and restrictive to the point of inviting obsolescence? I think not.

As Illinois' comptroller and the state's fiscal officer, I think we as a state cannot afford to continue to monitor our finances with a system that so quickly became a victim of technological advancement. We must make the financial commitment to implement an accounting system that will serve the primary function of fiscal responsibility for years to come: stretching the taxpayer's hard-earned tax dollar as far as it can be stretched.

I have, after analysing the problem for several years, proposed the establishment of a state-of-the-art fiscal accounting system, which I believe will serve Illinois well into the next century. The system, CUSAS II, would take Illinois from the dark ages of fiscal watchdogging into the jet-stream of high-tech accounting and fiscal management. CUSAS II is a logical step toward the modernization of state finances not only in Illinois, but nationwide. Just as Illinois was a leader in adopting the generally accepted accounting principles that have given the state a solid financial accountability base, it can be a leader in recognizing the need to monitor its finances.

There will be, of course, significant cost factors to be considered before CUSAS II is established and brought on line. The comptroller's office estimates that the cost of implementing CUSAS II by its proposed completion date, July 1, 1990, would be $28.2 million, not including computer hardware.

It is difficult to estimate precisely how much money CUSAS II will save the taxpayers of the state of Illinois. However, the system will give us up-to-the-minute financial information that will allow Illinois to maintain its excellent Triple-A bond rating. Under CUSAS II the report, now issued once a year, on which the state's bond rating and sales are based would be issued more frequently. This ability to issue updates of the annual report is key in maintaining Illinois' competitive edge in the bond market.

Auditor General Robert Cronson, who endorsed CUSAS II, estimates in his report dated April 30, 1985, that the total of general obligation bonds issued through 1984 was $4.65 billion, Cronson states that a drop in the bond rating would cost Illinois some $100 million. Clearly, CUSAS II will more than pay for itself if it simply protects the state's standing in the bond markets.

I firmly believe that the establishment now of CUSAS II would represent a prudent investment of state tax dollars for the future. To continue to rely on outdated fiscal management systems puts at risk our standing in the financial community.

The proposed system is detailed in a 2,000-page document which calls for increased reliance on today's computer technology. For example, it proposes access to the central comptroller's system for the state government's already-in-place computer telecommunications network, which could eventually include some 8,000 terminals. The new system would provide numerous functional capabilities not currently at our disposal. They include:

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• Streamlined and immediate data entry, edit and inquiry.
• Integration of all major accounting functions.
• Streamlined receipts processing,
• Improved cash management,
• electronic fund transfers among state accounts.
• Comprehensive audit-trail.

CUSAS II would substantially improve financial accountability, financial information access, cost analysis, processing efficiency and reconciliation. It would bring Illinois in step with other progressive states that have moved to protect their bond ratings.

My office is not alone in its assessment that the current CUSAS system must be replaced for the good of our fiscal management system, State Treasurer James H. Donnewald has already testified on behalf of CUSAS II before an Illinois Senate appropriations committee.

In a report dated March 31, 1986, Auditor General Cronson recognized the shortcomings of the existing uniform statewide accounting system. The auditor general deduced that we are unable to process vouchers as efficiently as possible and recommended a variety of changes, all of which would be remedied under CUSAS II. Mr. Cronson also noted justifiably that our current system is ill-equipped to expand the use of electronic fund transfers for certain state business transactions.

We must, in other words, take the bold and innovative steps toward computerization and technological advancement that successful corporate interests have already taken.

Our office has asked the General Assembly for the funds necessary for implementation of CUSAS II. We anticipate a thorough examination of the issue, and our office will justify the expenditure of these public funds for a better, more efficient statewide accounting system.

The system will pay huge dividends in the future if we make the investment now. As the mechanic says in the oil filter commercial: We can pay for it now, or we will have to pay for it later.

Roland W. Burris is serving his second term as Illinois comptroller.

41/June 1986/Illinois Issues