Topic Guide: Public Financial Management

Public expenditure and financial accountability programme (PEFA). http://www.pefa.org/en/dashboard  

The PEFA programme produces the most widely officially acknowledged assessments of countries’ PFM systems. In its current version, the PEFA system of indicators does not contain dimensions to specifically assess anti-corruption provisions. Based on the traditional approach to assess the quality of PFM systems, PEFA comprises indicators to assess the effectiveness of, for example, internal control systems, taxpayer registration, tax collection, and so on. The PEFA assessment framework is currently undergoing a revision of its indicators. This revision will also take into account aspects of transparency and public participation tools. The updated PEFA framework is expected to be released in 2015.  

OECD budget reviews. http://www.oecd.org/gov/budgeting/seniorbudgetofficialcountryreviewsofbudgetingsystems.htm  

OECD’s working party of senior budget officials undertakes country reviews of budgeting systems. The objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of the budget process in the country under examination, to evaluate national experiences in light of international best practice, to provide specific policy recommendations and to offer other countries an opportunity to comment on specific budgeting issues in the country under examination (peer review). The methodology does not specifically focus on the prevention of corruption. Similar to the PEFA assessments, it can be expected that effective PFM systems in a country will be less exposed to corruption risks, but clear conclusions in this regard cannot be drawn on the basis of an OECD budget review.  

Collaborative Africa budget reform initiative (CABRI): supporting fiscal transparency and participation reforms in Africa project. http://www.cabri-sbo.org/what-we-do/transparency/budget-transparency-promotion  

CABRI has recently launched its own programme to assess fiscal transparency and public participation in the PFM systems of African countries. Within the scope of this programme, an assessment framework has been developed which has been applied to a number of countries, including Democratic Republic of Congo or Kenya. More countries are currently participating in this programme. The CABRI project is implemented jointly with the Open Budget Partnership (OBP) and relies on the OBP’s open budget index’ data, along with PEFA assessment data. While building on the methodology of joint assessments by government officials of several countries, as in the OECD’s peer reviews, the CABRI assessment methodology puts more emphasis on the role of civil society actors in PFM. It can therefore be expected to deliver assessments which will be relevant to anti-corruption policies, although this assessment is also not a specific corruption/anti-corruption index.  

IMF fiscal transparency evaluation (FTE). https://www.imf.org/external/n...  

The IMF produces, at the request of the country to be reviewed, an evaluation of a country’s PFM system against the criteria of the fiscal transparency code. So far, four countries have been reviewed (Costa Rica, Ireland, Russia and Bolivia). The objective of the FTE is to provide countries with assessments of their PFM systems’ capacity to deliver an accurate picture of the status of their public finances as a basis for economic policy decisions. Holding governments accountable is another purpose of fiscal transparency. FTE do not only provide assessments, but also formulate recommendations for further reform.  

Assessing public financial management and accountability in the context of budget transparency in Africa. United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2005. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTFINANCIALMGMT/Resources/313217-1196229169083/4441154-1196229856871/4441195-1196266506713/AssessingPublicFinancialManagementandAccountability.pdf  

This survey assesses the fiscal transparency practices of 15 African countries. It relies on published reports including those of international financial institutions, theoretical literature, press reports, various websites to access laws, budget documents, reports, regional and international guidelines and case studies. The study looks at critical areas of transparency, namely: clarity of roles and responsibilities; public availability of information; open budget preparation, execution and reporting; independent assurances of integrity; and the extent to which these are practised in Africa. Until the CABRI-supporting fiscal transparency and participation reforms in Africa project have built up a substantial database, this study remains to be a relevant source for data and information about fiscal transparency in African countries.