Introduction to Classification of Functions of Government for Government Finance Statistics

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Canonical URL: Introduction to Classification of Functions of Government for Government Finance Statistics

Session No.: SA 23.03
Location: New Delhi, India
Date: February 6-10, 2023 (1 week)
Delivery Method: In-person Training
Primary Language: English
Deadline: Deadline passed
Qualifications: No specific academic qualifications required but anticipated that applicants will be educated to degree level.
Pre-requisites: Candidates must have relevant current and practical experience related to the course to be considered for invitation.

Aimed at participants who are relatively early in their career and are involved in the compilation of financial reporting expenditure data and government finance statistics.
Values the participation of more candidates with practical experience.
Participants should feel comfortable to present and discuss relevant data of their own country.

COFOG is a classification defined by the United Nations Statistics Division and adapted to the IMF government finance statistics (GFS) reporting framework.
COFOG enables trends in government expenditure by function (e.g., defense or education) or policy purposes to be examined over time.
The value of COFOG is that expenditure by functions of government of different countries can be compared.
The course explains how the ten functions of government as described in the GFSM 2014 are classified.
How to categorize expenditure data to generate a functional split and how it should reconcile with the economic classification of expenditure data used in the GFS will be explained.
Practical exercises with participants working in random groups will feature throughout the course to enable appropriate categorization of expenditure data to the correct functional categories.
Focus will be on the function environmental protection and how this can be used in conjunction with other government data on climate change to see how governments are addressing the issue.
Applications of COFOG for reporting select UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators will be discussed.

Participants will become familiar with the ten functions of government:
- General public services
- Defense
- Public order and safety
- Economic affairs
- Environmental protection
- Housing and community amenities
- Health
- Recreation, culture and religion
- Education
- Social protection
Participants will be able to correctly attribute expenditure to the appropriate functional category.
Participants will feel confident enough to take back what they have learnt to their own teams and spread the understanding of COFOG.
Participants will be able to put into practice what they have learnt to improve the quality and analytical usefulness of COFOG data in their country.