Effects of business process automation in a revenue collection agency : a case study at Kenya Revenue Authority
Date
2011-06
Authors
Mbugua, Irene N.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
The effects and contributions of adopting Information Communication Technology (ICT)
by organizations have been on a rise in recent times. However, the anticipated end results are
most often not realized due to automation challenges which include resistance from employees,
lack of standards and policies that govern the automation process. Kenya Revenue Authority
(KRA) embraced Information Technology (IT) as an enhancement of revenue collection strategy
since the year 2005. The general research objective was to establish improved KRA operations
as a result of the adoption of IT; other specific objectives were to find out the challenges faced
and possible solutions during the process of automation.
The research was also to come up with a conceptual model that can be used for
Automation of business processes in revenue collection agencies and organizations. A
descriptive survey design was adopted utilizing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The
approach aimed at getting information that describes a situation, behavior, attitudes of the
individual and the community in revenue collection environment hence the target population of
this study was the staff at KRA. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected for the four
objectives. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to aid the analysis of
quantitative data.
Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic method by grouping the information
provided by the respondents into similar themes. In terms of findings, about 71.1% of operations
e.g. communication between KRA and CBK, tax collection, Vehicle registration, Filing of tax
returns were recorded to have greatly improved. About 18.4% of processes have not improved
and about 10.5% remaining the same. About 75.7% of the respondents felt that the adoption of
ICT has had a remarkable change in the revenue collection efficiency. Some of the conclusions
made from the findings of the study are that increased revenue collection was the highest by 22%
translating to about Kenya shillings 12.53 billion in 2009110, followed by 20% in general
authority's operations as a result of automation. There was also improved audit trail at 19%
while staff efficiency 15%. Some improved factors were international trade and relations at 14%
and 10% respectively. This research developed an effective automation model that described
how best the automation can take place in a revenue collection environment.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science
in Information Technology
Keywords
Business process automation, Kenya Revenue Authority, Revenue collection