Top Ten PFM Blog Posts of 2016

Top10

Posted by Richard Allen and Kyle Axberg[1]

2016 was an exceptional year for the PFM blog, with readership levels increasing by about 50 percent over the last 12 months. The diversity of our articles, authors and readers has also increased. More than 60 articles were published on the blog during 2016. Nearly half of these articles were written by external contributors from a wide range of organizations in the public sector, academia, and the private sector. Topics ranged widely, sometimes stretching the boundaries of any recognized definition of PFM.

The articles included, for example, an extended interview with Trevor Manuel, celebrated former finance minister of South Africa, and pieces on topics such as accrual budgeting in Kazakhstan, innovative ways to fight HIV/AIDS, sharing natural resource revenues, the timing of a country’s fiscal year, how to make budget documents transparent, spending reviews in the EU, the new PEFA framework, IPSAS, accounting reforms in India, transparency and corruption (two pieces from the Anti-Corruption Summit in London), dispelling fiscal illusion, the capabilities of finance ministries, just to name a few.

The editors have tried to keep the blog alive, contemporary, relevant to policymakers and PFM advisors, and open to new ideas and initiatives. We hope that we have been modestly successful in this endeavor, and welcome feedback from our readers on how to improve the blog still further during 2017.  

In the spirit of celebrating another great year, the time has come to announce the ten most popular blog posts of 2016. First place goes to Gijs de Vries, currently with St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, and a former Member of the European Court of Audit. Both Gijs’ article, and the runner up by Suren Poghosyan, were about the sustainable development goals (SDGs), which helps explain their popularity and topicality. Congratulations, Gijs and Suren!  

Rank

Title

Author(s)

1

How National Audit Offices Can Support Implementation of the SDGs

Gijs de Vries

2

How to Link SDGs to the Budget

Suren Poghosyan

3

The New PPP Fiscal Risk Assessment Model (PFRAM)

Maximilien Queyranne, Isabel Rial and Genevieve Verdier

4

Analyzing and Managing Fiscal Risks: Best Practices

Brian Olden and Amanda Sayegh

5

The Capabilities of Finance Ministries

Richard Allen

6

IMF-USAID Cooperation: PFM Training

David Gentry

7

Two New Technical Notes and Manuals

Sailendra Pattanayak and Sandeep Saxena

8

Ten Tips to Improve the Transparency of Budget Documents

Greg Rosenberg

9

Official Launch of PEFA 2016

Lewis Hawke and Urška Zrinski

10

A Roadmap for Implementing Accrual Accounting

Suzanne Flynn, Delphine Moretti, and Joe Cavanagh

Finally, the PFM blog’s former co-editor, Holger van Eden, recently departed Washington to take up a new position as the IMF’s regional PFM advisor for East Asia, based in Bangkok. As Holger’s replacement, we welcome Teresa Curristine, who has accumulated 20 years of experience working in the PFM field at Oxford University and the OECD in Paris and, most recently, with FAD in Washington. Au revoir, Holger, and welcome, Teresa.

Thank you to all of our blog authors for your great submissions and to our readers for your continuing interest in PFM!

[1] Richard Allen is a Visiting Scholar with the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department. Kyle Axberg is a Division Coordinator with FAD’s PFM2 Division.

Note: The posts on the IMF PFM Blog should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy.

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