Public Financial Management (PFMx)

Source details

Target Audience:
- All government officials and staff from development agencies.
- Particularly relevant for mid-level to senior officials in ministries of finance, treasuries, debt management offices, ministries of economy, or financial planning divisions in line ministries.
- Targeted at officials involved in capacity strengthening functions related to public financial management (PFM).
- Non-government officials and non-development-agency staff are advised to register at edX.org.
Qualifications:
- Designed for participants who already have a basic understanding of PFM systems and builds on that knowledge at an intermediate level.
- Basic understanding of PFM systems would be helpful.
- Access to a computer with a reliable Internet connection and a Google Chrome web browser is essential.

The course provides an overview of PFM systems, institutions, and capacity building in developing and emerging market economies.
Focus areas:
- PFM issues in support of macroeconomic stability, inclusive growth, achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and post-crisis recovery.
- Treats PFM as an integrated system rather than a collection of specialties.
- Emphasizes PFM priorities, reform objectives, and implementation risks.
Pedagogy:
- Built on conceptual and practical approaches.
- Includes testimonials from ministers of finance, practitioners, and other stakeholders from many countries.

Participants should be able to:

Explain why PFM is an important tool to implement public policies.
Describe and analyze the budget cycle and its main components.
Describe a simple medium-term budget framework, a cash management plan, and a public investment management reform strategy.
Identify tools for the effective management of fiscal risks, components of fiscal transparency, reliable fiscal reports, and internal and external audits.
Identify issues relevant to the prioritization and sequencing of PFM reforms, and the challenges faced in implementing such reforms.
Explain how civil society, public participation, and supreme audit institutions keep governments accountable.
Describe the role of local conditions and political institutions in designing and implementing reforms.