Managing the Wage Bill in Southern Africa

Posted by Imran Aziz[1]

AFRITAC South[2], in collaboration with the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF, held a regional seminar on Government Compensation and Employment from June 20 to 23, 2016.  The event was hosted by the Africa Training Institute in Mauritius, and brought together government officials from Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The seminar focused on the conceptual framework presented in the IMF’s recently published board paper “Managing Government Compensation and Employment – Institutions, Policies, and Reform Challenges”. The lectures and group sessions were structured on strengthening the key institutions that underpin the effective management of wage bill spending. A well-designed system requires adequate fiscal planning to ensure appropriate financing of the wage bill, competitive compensation to attract and retain skilled staff and incentivize performance, and the flexibility to adjust the level and compensation of employment to reach efficient levels.  

Accrual Budgeting in Kazakhstan

Posted by John Zohrab[1]

From the perspective of fiscal transparency, accrual budgeting (AB) is superior to cash budgeting, because it facilitates the management of the budget in terms of the full resource implications of policies and programs and provides a much wider set of fiscal indicators. A cash budget is managed in terms of cash flows and balances whereas, in addition, an accrual budget takes into account accrued expenses and revenues, as well as the full range of assets, and liabilities and net worth.[2]

However, implementing AB is generally perceived to entail risks and complexities. This is presumably why, starting in 1989, only a handful of countries have so far implemented it in central government: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It is also presumably why most countries prefer to stick with cash budgeting. So why is Kazakhstan considering the introduction of AB?[3]