Managing and controlling the government’s cash resources has long been a major challenge to the implementation of budget laws and oversight of the government’s receipts and payments from and to a diverse number of state and nonstate agencies and entities in Iran. Fragmented government banking arrangements, coupled with various loopholes in the relevant laws, have prevented the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance of Iran’s Treasury Unit from improving budget control and the quality of fiscal information.
The International Monetary Fund has advised a Treasury Single Account (TSA) as a prerequisite for modern cash management. The TSA is a process and tool that unifies all government accounts for the effective management of its finances, bank and cash position. It is an objective that the Treasury Unit has sought to fulfill for years, without much success.