Our new data on government assets released today shows that when governments know what they own, they can make better use of the assets for the well-being of all their citizens. We make these data free and publicly available for all to use because we believe transparency can help create better public policy.
The Fiscal Affairs Division of the IMF, the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) and the Governance Global Practice Division of the World Bank co-hosted a one-day seminar in Washington in March 2019 on “Leveraging Government Financial Reporting for Fiscal Policymaking and the Management of Public Wealth”.
Continue reading " Implementing Cutting-Edge Reforms in Financial Reporting " »
Posted by Bryn Welham, Sierd Hadley and Mark Miller[1]
A former chair of the US Federal Reserve once wrote in relation to setting interest rates that it is the job of central bankers to take away the punch bowl just as the party gets going. Budget officers – staff in finance ministries who supervise the in-year spending of line ministries – also have a similarly thankless task: making sure that just the right amount of punch is available as promised, but no more and no less. A recent publication by the ODI looks at the critically important role of budget officers in the UK, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Slovenia, and Myanmar.
Continue reading " Life at the Sharp End – Controlling Public Spending " »
Posted by the GIFT Coordination Team[1]
We are frequently confronted with the question: how relevant is fiscal transparency for improving public spending? There is no easy answer to this question, as there is no easy or unique path to transforming fiscal transparency into good social outcomes. But there is evidence that transparency can be a stepping stone to improving the quality of spending and accountability for the use of public resources (see de Renzio and Wehner 2015). The following diagram displays GIFT’s theory of change which links fiscal transparency to improved social economic and environmental results.
Continue reading " From Fiscal Transparency to Social Impact " »
Posted by Steve Redburn[1]
Governments around the world increasingly employ a growing body of evidence about performance to inform their budget and policy choices and to implement those choices. However, most of the routines established for this focus on the top leadership. To fully exploit the opportunities offered by performance information, it is important to engage operating program managers and their staffs at all levels of the bureaucracy.
Continue reading " Building Capacity to Perform: A Strategy for the U.S. Federal Government " »
Posted by Ivor Beazley[1]
Governments run large complex operations disbursing more money than most large business enterprises, so it is perhaps surprising that financial management professionals have not had a more prominent role in managing public services. For many years finance professionals were confined to niche areas of government such as tax administration, debt management and audit but this has been changing.
Continue reading " Improving Financial Management Capacity in Government " »
Posted by Willie du Preez[1]
Public Infrastructure assets are a foundation of a country’s economic development. Maintaining such assets in good condition is critical. Infrastructure wears out with time and use. Neglected infrastructure will result in degradation of the assets with negative effects on the economy, leading to greater costs of reconstruction over time. The goal of maintenance is to preserve an asset, not to upgrade it. It includes minor repairs (routine maintenance) and improvements (capital maintenance) to eliminate the cause of defects and to avoid excessive repetition of routine maintenance efforts.
Continue reading " Why Maintaining Public Infrastructure is So Important " »
Posted by Maximilien Queyranne and Wendell Daal[1]
In 1998, the Government of Jamaica faced a difficult infrastructure challenge. The island’s roads were in decay, Kingston’s congestion was at its peak, road accidents and fatalities were common. The authorities had an ambitious project to address these challenges—create a network of modern highways—but lacked the means and the expertise to build it.
Posted by David Mihalyi and Patrick Heller[1]
National oil companies (NOCs) are economic giants controlling at least $3.1 trillion in assets and producing most of the world’s oil and gas. Many of these companies execute complex projects, provide critical energy infrastructure, and make a big contribution to local employment and state revenues. But NOCs also present important risks to public finance, as we highlight in a new report from the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), based on a database covering 71 national oil companies worldwide, from 2011 to 2017.
Continue reading " New Insights on National Oil Companies " »
Posted by Richard Allen and Gerardo Uña[1]
Financial management information systems (FMISs) are a vital tool for governments to process, store, and report on financial information and transactions. A well-functioning FMIS provides timely, reliable, and comprehensive reports that support the government’s fiscal policies and fiscal rules, and the formulation, control, monitoring, and execution of the budget. If used well, these systems promote financial integrity and transparency.
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