Posted by Jean Mathis
The site http://jean-mathis.pagesperso-orange.fr/ contains a manual entitled "Management and Public Finances in Francophone Africa." It has two main features.
1. It claims to focus squarely on the new approaches to public finance. Considerable emphasis is placed on program budgeting, medium-term expenditure frameworks, and performance-based management methodologies.
2. Although public finance methodologies are always presented in a fairly universal way, this manual attempts to reflect the institutional constraints that most francophone African countries face. Specifically, it systematically analyzes the new WAEMU and CEMAC public finance directives. Rather than present the laws of the two areas separately, an effort has been made to compare them in parallel, an instructive step as is any cross-country comparison.
Opting for electronic publication, as opposed to print, serves two purposes:
1. Easier access for civil servants and students of francophone Africa, who do not necessarily have easy access to paper editions sold in bookstores.
2. The ability to update existing chapters and to add new sections. Two additional sections are already planned: one on the macroeconomics of public finance (including debt), the other on international assistance (which is currently experiencing rapid change in terms of tools and methodologies). Other sections could be contemplated, for example on the information systems that are at the heart of the effectiveness of public financial management systems, and on controls (audit offices, inspections, etc.).
OUTLINE OF THE MANUAL
MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC FINANCES IN FRANCOPHONE AFRICA
Introduction: the renewal of public finances
PART ONE: PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES OF PUBLIC FINANCE
Chapter 1: The main principles of modern public finances
PART TWO: THE BUDGET LAW AND THE BUDGET
Chapter 2: The basis of the budget law and the budget
Chapter 3: Preparation and passage of the budget
PART THREE: BUDGET CLASSIFICATIONS
Chapter 4: Expenditure and revenue classifications
Chapter 5: Government flow of funds tables
PART FOUR: BUDGET EXECUTION
Chapter 6: Principles and organization of budget execution
Chapter 7: Public expenditure and revenue execution
Chapter 8: Procurement
PART FIVE: PROGRAMMING AND BUDGETING TOOLS
Chapter 9: Levels of public policy objectives and execution
Chapter 10: Global strategy, sectoral strategy, action plan
Chapter 11: Medium-Term Expenditure Framework: background
Chapter 12: Medium-Term Expenditure Framework: methodology
PART SIX: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Chapter 13: Performance management and performance-based budgeting
Chapter14: Goals and Indicators
Chapter 15: Policy levels
PART SEVEN: ACCOUNTS AND COST MEASUREMENT
Chapter 16: Different forms of accounting
Chapter 17: Bookkeeping
Chapter 18: Cost measurement
PART EIGHT: SUMMARY DOCUMENTS AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS
Chapter 19: Financial statements
Chapter 20: Financial analysis of government accounts
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