Barbaza bids bye bye to branch bookkeepers

BARBAZA, ANTIQUE – In the business world, a bookkeeper is the person who records and manages the financial transactions of an organization. This is usually recorded in a daybook, where they write down the day-to-day expenses and revenue of their business. This includes receipts, purchases, sales, payments, and others like it.

But for Barbaza Multi-Purpose Cooperative, their digital system renders the need for a bookkeeper obsolete.

Barbaza MPC Accounting Department Chief Pecibal Acdol tells how BMPC utilizes the eKoopBanker Plus system to better serve its members.

 “When we began to use eKoopBanker Plus, we realized that it is possible to not have bookkeepers in our branches,” he says.

Acdol explains the process behind recording their finances. First, they prepare the “auto-tickets,” which are template tickets for any type of transaction, whether it be deposits, withdrawals, or payments.

Of these “auto-tickets,” there are 3 modules: eKoopBanker Plus’ CASA and accounting module. The accountants are familiar with all of these.

BMPC currently operates ten branches. 

Office Supplies.  In purchasing office supplies and equipment, this process is centralized in the head office where they receive requests from their branches. The head office makes the purchase, liquidates the expenses, and then distributes the supplies to the branches that requested them. If any supplies are left over, they remain in the head office as “unused” office supplies.

The head office controls all of the financial affairs of the BMPC branches. According to Acdol, this makes balancing easier, since the process is centralized in one office. But the head office only deals with the affairs of its branches, while the branches focus on serving the members.

Payroll. On the payroll of their employees, Acdol says that the Human Resources department handles the time records for attendance; taking into account late clock-ins, absences, leaves, and overtime work for appropriate deductions or extra pay. Additionally, loan payments are forwarded by the Loans Department to the HR Department for deductions.

Two days before payday, the payroll comes out. The accounts of the staff and the members of the co-op are centralized, and their salaries are uploaded to their KAYA ATM accounts.

For staff in branches without ATM accounts, they can withdraw cash over the counter.

However, since BMPC offers the KAYA Payment Platform, all of their members are required to have a KAYA account that enables them to make transactions through their mobile devices. They use the KAYA mobile app to load their cellphones.

Internet and Cable TV Services.  “BMPC itself is a cable TV and internet service provider,” Acdol states. He continues, saying that they rarely experience internet outages, but when they do, they have the provisions and a backup internet service provider to compensate. Being the sole provider in town, the linesmen are BMPC employees who can respond immediately to restore the lost internet or cable services.

For branches, however, BMPC only pays for internet service to local providers in the area. If there are any outages, it is for only a day at most, is very rare, and is usually the result of a natural disaster. BMPC has provisions for business continuity, for this reason.

Acdol says: “As a matter of principle, we must be the first to patronize products of the co-op, even before the members!”

What’s next for BMPC? The National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) Network is proposing a new product called the eKoopBanker Plus 2, which is the old program but with new features. In this new product, they will utilize a Microsoft Excel template called the Excel Query, which gives them a birds-eye view of a day’s transactions.