Pefa Public Financial Management And Good Governance

This project, based on the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) data set, researched how PEFA can be used to shape policy development in public financial management (PFM) and other major relevant policy areas such as anticorruption, revenue mobilization, political economy analysis, and fragile states. The report explores what shapes the PFM system in low- and middle-income countries by examining the relationship between political institutions and the quality of the PFM system. Although the report finds some evidence that multiple political parties in control of the legislature is associated with better PFM performance, the report finds the need to further refine and test the theories on the relationship between political institutions and PFM. The report addresses the question of the outcomes of PFM systems, distinguishing between fragile and nonfragile states. It finds that better PFM performance is associated with more reliable budgets in terms of expenditure composition in fragile states, but not aggregate budget credibility. Moreover, in contrast to existing studies, it finds no evidence that PFM quality matters for deficit and debt ratios, irrespective of whether a country is fragile or not. The report also explores the relationship between perceptions of corruption and PFM performance. It finds strong evidence of a relationship between better PFM performance and improvements in perceptions of corruption. It also finds that PFM reforms associated with better controls have a stronger relationship with improvements in perceptions of corruption compared to PFM reforms associated with more transparency. The last chapter looks at the relationship between PEFA indicators for revenue administration and domestic resource mobilization. It focuses on the credible use of penalties for noncompliance as a proxy for the type of political commitment required to improve tax performance. The analysis shows that countries that credibly enforce penalties for noncompliance collect more taxes on average.

The research is based on the PEFA framework and methodology for assessing public financial management performance and the data set that is generated from the PEFA assessments. The research quantified PEFA scores and aggregated them into overall scores which required developing assumptions on weighting scores, measures, and assessments. The research acknowledges methodological limitations of using the PEFA data set, including the assumptions. In general, the research follows the approach taken by previous researchers who have used PEFA data for quantitative analysis, but this does not eliminate the challenges that persist in transforming grades to numerical values and aggregating them. The time inconsistency issues and the limited number of observations also influenced the regression analysis using the PEFA data set. The team acknowledges that the PEFA data set was not designed for statistical analysis and that using it in quantitative regressions presents a series of econometric issues that cannot be fully resolved in this book, or in other papers which apply a similar approach. The research report builds on general recognition that PFM is important for development and recognizes that there is limited evidence based on the nontechnical determinants of PFM performance, as well as the outcomes of a good PFM system. The report therefore aims to bridge some of this gap between theory and practice using data on PFM performance from PEFA assessments. The report undertakes a closer examination of the key debates on what constitutes a good PFM system by providing an overview of the PEFA framework, and the data set that is generated through PEFA assessments, including its strengths and weaknesses. This was done to enable the research team to undertake quantitative analysis of the relationship between PFM performance and other governance indicators and outcomes.

This paper provides details of Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessment report for Niger. The measurement of the public financial management performance indicators shows that progress has been insignificant. Reform programs in progress in the area of oversight and external auditing are moving ahead; as this trend continues, the progress will be reflected in the scores of subsequent assessments. However, the progress of the external audit will continue to depend on positive trends in the area of accounting, information recording, and financial reporting.

We examine the link between the quality of fiscal governance and access to market-based external finance. Stronger fiscal governance is associated with improvements in several indicators of market access, including a higher likelihood of issuing sovereign bonds and having a sovereign credit rating, receiving stronger ratings, and obtaining lower spreads. Using the more granular information on quality of fiscal governance from Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessments for 89 emerging and developing economies, we find that similar indicators of market access are correlated with sound public financial management practices, especially those that improve budget transparency and reporting, debt management, and fiscal strategy.

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed an influx of innovations and reforms in public financial management. The current wave of reforms is markedly different from those in the past, owing to the sheer number of innovations, their widespread adoption, and the sense that they add up to a fundamental change in the way governments manage public money. This book takes stock of the most important innovations that have emerged over the past two decades, including fiscal responsibility legislation, fiscal rules, medium-term budget frameworks, fiscal councils, fiscal risk management techniques, performance budgeting, and accrual reporting and accounting. Not merely a handbook or manual describing practices in the field, the volume instead poses critical questions about innovations; the issues and challenges that have appeared along the way, including those associated with the global economic crisis; and how the ground can be prepared for the next generation of public financial management reforms. Watch Video of Book Launch

This document provides Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) users with guidance on the application of the PEFA supplementary framework for assessing gender responsive public financial management (GRPFM).

This study compares the various instruments and approaches used by the World Bank, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the Strategic Partnership for Africa and several bilateral donor agencies to assess and reform public expenditure management systems in developing and transitional countries. It identifies weaknesses in the current system and recommends a new medium-term, country-led, multidonor approach which is focused on better budgetary management supplemented by donor aid funds, as a key mechanism to reduce poverty and attain other policy goals.

Securing Development: Public Finance and the Security Sector highlights the role of public finance in the delivery of security and criminal justice services. This book offers a framework for analyzing public financial management, financial transparency, and oversight, as well as expenditure policy issues that determine how to most appropriately manage security and justice services. The interplay among security, justice, and public finance is still a relatively unexplored area of development. Such a perspective can help security actors provide more professional, effective, and efficient security and justice services for citizens, while also strengthening systems for accountability. The book is the result of a project undertaken jointly by staff from the World Bank and the United Nations, integrating the disciplines where each institution holds a comparative advantage and a core mandate. The primary audience includes government officials bearing both security and financial responsibilities, staff of international organizations working on public expenditure management and security sector issues, academics, and development practitioners working in an advisory capacity.