Commonwealth Country Self
Assessment in Public Finance
Management:
2009 report & lessons learnt
Kaifala Marah
Commonwealth Secretariat
FMM
Cyprus 2009
Overview
• Why trouble with self assessment?
• What did we assess?
• Lessons learnt (quantitative & qualitative
outcomes)
• Challenges identified
• Some good practices to note
• Next steps
• Conclusion
Why trouble with self
assessment?
• Independent country assessments:
 are relative to own environment
 present little opportunity for data sharing
 learning is limited
• However, the CPFM-SAT presents a
common platform for learning:
 sharing of country experiences enhanced
• Assists COMSEC with intervention
strategy
Participating countries
Africa
Botswana
Ghana
Kenya
Lesotho
Malawi
Mozambique
Sierra Leone
Zambia
Asia
Brunei
India
Maldives
Singapore
Participating countries ...
Caribbean
Barbados
Grenada
Jamaica
St. Lucia
Mediterranean
Cyprus
Malta
Pacific
Australia
New Zealand
Tonga
TOTAL: 21 from all
regions
What did we assess?
Countries self assessed 166 PFM
attributes arranged under 5 main building
blocks:
1. Structure of PFM:
•
•



Legislation and regulation
Role of authorities and committees, for example
Public procurement (complaints review, etc)
Revenue agencies
Internal audit
What did we assess...
 Aid and debt management units
 Debt strategy committee, etc
 Resource and capacity building
2. Accountability and Stewardship
•
•
•
•
•
•
Transparency and accountability (PACs, OAG, etc)
Accounting for public funds
Public asset management
Safeguarding public moneys
Reporting
Monitoring and evaluation
What did we assess...
3. Planning and Resource Allocation
• Planning budgets
• Prioritisation and allocations
• Flexibility and autonomy
4. Measurement
• Financial data (moving from cash to accrual accounting)
• Non financial data (performance targets easy to
understand, updated and institutionalised), etc
• Chart of accounts
• Expenditure reports, (full cost basis – depreciation,
evaluation) etc
What did we assess...
5. Performance & Value Creation
• Enhancing value
• Efficiency and economy integrated in the budgetary
process
• Incentives and penalty system built in the system
• Effective procurement system (for example, black list of
non-performing contractors, etc) obtains
So, what are the quantitative outcomes?
What did we assess?
Score for each of the attribute was done in
the following:
Activity not yet established=1
Activity established=2
Activity implemented=3
Activity effectively implemented=4
https://gate.commonwealth.int/pfm
Average Performance by Theme
(Pan-Commonwealth)
90.00%
81.44%
80.31%
80.00%
73.85%
73.05%
70.18%
70.00%
64.29%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1. Structure of PFM
2. Accountability and
Stewardship
3. Planning and
Resource Allocation
4. Measurement
5. Performance
Average Overall Score
Average Performance by Theme
(Africa)
90.00%
83.30%
80.00%
79.74%
75.16%
74.69%
5. Performance
Average Overall
Score
72.00%
70.00%
63.28%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1. Structure of PFM
2. Accountability and
3. Planning and
Stewardship
Resource Allocation
4. Measurement
Average Performance by Theme
(Asia)
90.00%
81.32%
80.00%
75.71%
73.79%
72.40%
70.23%
70.00%
60.94%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1. Structure of PFM 2. Accountability and
3. Planning and
Stewardship
Resource Allocation
4. Measurement
5. Performance
Average Overall
Score
Average Performance by Theme
(Caribbean)
90.00%
80.00%
81.14%
79.01%
74.31%
73.37%
68.75%
70.00%
63.66%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1. Structure of PFM 2. Accountability and
3. Planning and
Stewardship
Resource Allocation
4. Measurement
5. Performance
Average Overall
Score
Average Performance by Theme
(Mediterranean)
90.00%
80.89%
79.30%
80.00%
71.92%
69.73%
70.00%
65.00%
60.00%
51.56%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1. Structure of PFM
2. Accountability and
3. Planning and
Stewardship
Resource Allocation
4. Measurement
5. Performance
Average Overall
Score
Average Performance by Theme
(Pacific)
100.00%
88.52%
90.00%
81.84%
80.00%
78.73%
76.94%
73.96%
70.00%
61.67%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1. Structure of PFM 2. Accountability and
3. Planning and
Stewardship
Resource Allocation
4. Measurement
5. Performance
Average Overall
Score
Average Performance by Theme
(Small Island States)
90.00%
80.00%
76.83%
73.91%
67.88%
70.00%
67.64%
62.14%
57.42%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1. Structure of PFM
2. Accountability and
3. Planning and
Stewardship
Resource Allocation
4. Measurement
5. Performance
Average Overall
Score
Variables, biases skewing
results
• Individual’s position (junior/senior),
knowledge of PFM, style of answering,
and experience in working with others
• Level of consultations, subjectivity, tough
or soft stance taken on issues
• Human error, understanding of
questionnaire, selectivity and omissions
• Nature of questions – political, etc.
Lessons learnt (qualitative
outcomes)
Overall, progress has been made across
member countries, for example:
• There has been a floodgate of new PFM
legislations especially since early 1990s
• A number of regulations being reviewed
and updated
• Marked improvements identified in budget
planning, consultation and allocation
Lessons learnt...
• E-financial management is thriving
• Procurement functions devolved in some
economies; e-procurement being
improved
• Internal audit, asset and risk management
enhanced in some jurisdictions
• Cash flows/management & debt
management enhanced
• Monitoring/evaluation of performance
improved
Challenges identified
1. Challenges in the following areas are
faced by many of our jurisdictions:
• Intensions are mistaken for results; for e.g.
legal frameworks mistaken for
implementation
• Asset management: framework &
implementation
• Risk management not mainstreamed
Low profile of internal
audit
1. Need for a
conscious
commitment to
change the
long held
notion of
internal audit
2. Craft a
sustainable
medium term
strategy
22 of 42
22 of 24
Challenges identified...
• Ineffective debt strategy
• Managing tax exemptions (e.g user pay
policy, etc), mostly absent
• Safeguarding public moneys
• Monitoring and evaluating public
expenditure
• Monitoring, assessing, enforcing
performance targets, etc
Challenges identified...
• Cash management (inflows vs outflows)
• Transitioning from cash to accrual
accounting
• Enforcing procurement compliance
• Establishing tax assessment tribunal
• Effective records management
• Old legislations in need of review
Challenges identified...
2. Big Six PFM issues to note:
• Pre-election audits
• Financial autonomy of auditors general
• Declaration of assets by public officials
• Maintaining & publishing a black list of
non-performing contractors
• Powers of parliament on budget tampering
• Chairmanship of PACs
Some good practices to note
Australia:
• Financial autonomy of the National Audit
Office is guaranteed
• FMA requires agencies to set up internal
audit and a “fraud control plan”
• The Charter of Budget Honesty Act
provides for Pre-Election Economic and
Fiscal Outlook Report (PEFO)
Some good practices to note
Singapore
• Tax exemptions fully funded under a user
pay policy
• Effective asset management system in
place
• Black list of non-performing contractors
maintained and published
Some good practices to note
India:
• Instruction manuals are updated and
accessible
• Specialised training institutes established
to enhance capacity
New Zealand:
• Effective debt management system in
place
Some good practices to note
• Effective monitoring and evaluation
• Assessment and review of performance
• Budget flexibility: allows carry-forward of
activities
• Systematic transition from cash to accrual
accounting
Malta:
• Passed Local Loans Act as far back as in
1959
Some good practices to note
• Efficient cash flow management system
through “weekly swing operation” to
forecast the inflow & out flow of cash
Cyprus:
• All government officials declare assets and
liabilities
• Internal control reviews are carried out
“daily, monthly and annually”
Some good practices to note
Ghana:
• Internal audit agency – responsible for
transforming internal audit and risk
management
• The IAA reports directly to the President &
report is tabled in Parliament
Grenada:
• Maintains a debt coordinating committee
Some good practices to note
Jamaica:
• Zero balance account known as “clearing
accounts” obtains in MDAs
Sierra Leone:
• Procurement appellate board exists
• Asset declaration provided for in the law
Kenya:
• Performance audits carried out
Some good practices to note
Tonga:
• Debt sustainability policy put in place
St. Lucia:
• Government vehicles insured
Maldives:
• Independent commissioners declare asset
Botswana:
• Government transportation system
effectively regulated
Next steps
• The Commonwealth Secretariat:
 to commission a further study on country
specific good practices to enhance
experience sharing. Areas to be
identified by senior officials
 propose that all country finance ministry
websites to be linked to the
Commonwealth PFM portal to enhance
sharing, research and learning
Next steps...
Crafted a medium-term response strategy
to assist member countries in closing
specific gaps under the Building Pyramids
in the Valley project
Review CPFM-SAT against the 2011 self
assessments
Provide a full and non-publishable report
of the 2009 assessments to member
countries
Conclusion
“Learning is the key to both implementation
and evaluation. We evaluate to learn, and
we learn to implement. Evaluation is a
method of inducing learning within an
organisation geared for implementing. And
it is not only evaluators but the programme
personnel, the implementers, who are to
do the learning. Were this not so, were
evaluation isolated from implementation
Conclusion……
The latter would be blind and the former
would be dumb, and neither could change
for the better”.
(Implementation, J.L Pressman & A Wildavsky)