Other Financial Accountability Study
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Publication
Improving Transparency and Accountability in Public-Private Partnerships: Disclosure Diagnostic Report - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10)In May 2016, the World Bank published a Framework for Disclosure of Information in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), which provides a template for the preparation of a PPP Disclosure Diagnostic that assesses the transparency and accountability of PPP programs based on the disclosure of information. Between March 2020 and October 2020, a joint Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and World Bank team conducted a study on PPP disclosure in Afghanistan, using the World Bank’s PPP Disclosure Diagnostic template. This study led to the preparation of a PPP Disclosure Diagnostic Report (hereinafter ‘Diagnostic Report’) for Afghanistan. The Diagnostic Report examines the political, legal, and institutional environment for the disclosure of information on PPPs in Afghanistan. Based on these findings, benchmarked against the World Bank’s disclosure framework, the Diagnostic Report provides a gap assessment of the environment for PPP disclosure in Afghanistan. It makes specific recommendations to improve disclosure, including recommended customized guidelines for PPP disclosure in Afghanistan. The findings suggest that there has been some movement toward greater transparency and openness in all areas of government in Afghanistan, but that there is still scope for further progress given that relevant legal reforms are relatively new and still to be fully institutionalized. Article 50 of the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan ensures that citizens ‘have the right of access to information’ from public institutions. This principle was enhanced substantially with the enactment of the Access to Information Law in 2014, which was subsequently revised in 2019.2 The law further guarantees access to information and aims to ‘ensure transparency, strengthen the culture of provision of information, promote people’s participation in good governance, ensure accountability in the conduct of institutions, and combat corruption’. -
Publication
Building Effective, Accountable, and Inclusive Institutions in Europe and Central Asia: Lessons from the Region
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06)Countries around the world are facing the need to build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. There has never been a more important moment to tackle this agenda, as countries grapple with increasing fragility and migration flows, more complex service delivery requirements, and greater demands for transparency and inclusion, all in a more resource-constrained environment. Moreover, the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic crisis has provided new evidence of the need for effective, accountable, and inclusive government responses. Governments’ capacity to respond to these complex challenges is understandably stretched, but this has not limited the rise of citizens’ expectations. Instead, it has often increased tensions and, in some cases, has affected the trust between governments and their citizens. This publication builds on the World Bank’s vast engagement across ECA and on the 2019 regional governance conference. It consists of six chapters, each corresponding to one of the governance areas around which governments across the world organize their institutional functions. Each chapter contains background and analysis by World Bank specialists, complemented by country case studies authored by regional experts and policymakers. -
Publication
Common Core Accounting Syllabus for Universities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-09-13)Strengthening Auditing and Reporting in the Countries of the Eastern Partnership (STAREP) is a regional program of the Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR). The program aims to create a transparent policy environment and effective institutional framework for corporate reporting within the countries that make up the European Union’s Eastern Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. STAREP’s focus is on the improvement of corporate financial reporting frameworks and their effective implementation. As many countries move towards the adoption of international and regional standards in accounting and auditing, there is a need to ensure high quality, relevant education both for those entering the profession and for ongoing professional development throughout their career. The World Bank’s Accounting and Auditing Education Community of Practice (EduCoP) has enabled shared and peer learning, supporting national efforts to develop accounting and auditing education capacity. -
Publication
Accountants as Catalysts for Growth in the Western Balkans: Initial Assessment of SME's Financial Management and Financial Governance
(World Bank, Vienna, 2019-05-08)Good financial management and financial governance is not only an imperative for the largest companies; smaller privately-owned businesses dominate economies in the Western Balkans providing most of jobs and contributing most of the value added to the economy, and so it is essential that smaller businesses with high growth potential are not constrained by poor financial management practices. The World Bank’s Center for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR) has developed a landscape assessment approach” that aims to identify the state of financial management and financial governance practices of Micro, Small and Medium Sized Entities (MSMEs) in the Western Balkans and opportunities for improvement, building on the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSCs) performed in the region. The landscape assessment approach has been developed by the CFRR under the Accountants as Catalysts for Growth (A4G) initiative which aims to leverage the accounting profession to support improvements in the management of the financial health of MSMEs. This work compliments the Reports on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSCs) that have been completed by looking at non-standard aspects of financial management. Preliminary landscape assessments have been performed in Serbia and Albania; however, this work has not yet been formally reported. These preliminary assessments have been performed to test the assessment approach before a broader roll-out under the future EU-REPARIS program work as well as identify the key financial management and financial governance practices of MSMEs that need improvement, based on stakeholder observation, and consider factors that may be giving rise to such practices and possible approaches to address them. Reports for Serbia and Albania will be completed once the assessment is finalized which may include further work in both countries resulting from refinements to the assessment approach. Stakeholder observations obtained from preliminary assessment work were used to identify financial management deficiencies in MSMEs, possible causal factors, and approaches to improvement. Stakeholders identified some fundamental deficiencies in financial management and financial governance of MSMEs in Serbia and Albania that appear to be systemic and may constrain the MSME Sector’s development overall.is important to note that these are not expressed as actionable recommendations; they are offered as key themes that should be discussed by the main stakeholders to coordinate and identify agreed actions with these themes and others. A key issue identified at this initial stage of work is that approaches to address shortcomings in financial management and financial governance of MSMEs are constrained by market conditions and institutional capacity. Future work under the A4G initiative, including completing assessments in all Western Balkans countries, and developing activities to support improvements in MSME financial management and financial governance, will need to take account of the results of this preliminary assessment work. -
Publication
Georgia Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Performance Assessment Report: Municipality of Martvili
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10)The purpose of this PEFA assessment is to provide an objective analysis of the present performance of the PFM system in the Municipality of Martvili against the PEFA indicators. This PEFA establishes a PEFA baseline using the 2016 PEFA methodology. The assessment covers expenditures by subnational government budgetary units. Overall, the results of the PEFA show that public financial management systems in the Municipality of Martvili are strong in terms of budget execution and control as the country’s PFM reform action plan has been implemented. -
Publication
Georgia Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Performance Assessment Report: City of Batumi
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10)The purpose of this PEFA assessment is to provide an objective analysis of the present performance of the PFM system in the City of Batumi against the PEFA indicators. This PEFA provides an assessment of PFM in the municipality and establishes a PEFA baseline using the 2016 PEFA methodology. The assessment covered expenditures by subnational government budgetary units. Revenues are collected by the Georgia Revenue Services on behalf of the municipality and this was considered not applicable. There are no extra-budgetary units and no local government below the municipality level. The assessment team visited the municipality from June 5 to 9, 2018 (fieldwork for the assessment). The financial years covered for indicators that required assessing over three years are 2015 to 2017. Overall, the results of the PEFA show that public financial management systems in the City of Batumi are strong and improved as the PFM Reform Action Plan has been implemented. The aggregate expenditure side of the budget performs largely according to plan. The Georgian Treasury consolidates cash balances in the treasury single account on a daily basis. A cash flow forecast is prepared annually for the year to come and is updated quarterly on the basis of actual inflows and outflows often due to relatively frequent supplementary budget. Budgetary units are able to plan and commit expenditure for one year in advance on the basis of quarterly ceilings, in accordance with the budgeted appropriations and commitment releases. An overriding feature of PFM in the Georgia both at the Central and Subnational levels of government has been the development and good use of Information Technology in budget preparation, budget execution (accounts, commitment control, and cash management), personnel and payroll, revenue services, and procurement. The application of the IT has been developed in-country based on business processes in each of the subject areas (redefined as necessary) and not on the reconfiguration of business practices to suit software. This adoption of IT solutions combined with the internet as a vehicle for its implementation by competent and trained personnel (with appropriate control) has been fundamental to the development of strengths in PFM. The integration of IT, internet and personnel has resulted in PFM’s positive effectiveness and efficiency. -
Publication
Georgia Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Performance Assessment: Municipality Synthesis Report
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10)The purpose of this PEFA assessment synthesis report is to provide an objective analysis of the present performance of the PFM system in Georgia’s municipalities using PEFA indicators. The synthesis report provides a collective assessment of PFM in three municipalities assessed by the World Bank funded by the European Union, plus twelve municipalities assessed with support from GIZ. These assessments used the 2016 PEFA methodology but only the three assessments by the World Bank followed the PEFA CHECK quality assurance process. The field assessments by the World Bank, which covered financial years 2015-2017, were done in May-June 2018 with PEFA CHECK issued by the PEFA Secretariat on October 23, 2018. With regard to the twelve municipalities assessed by GIZ, ten were assessed in 2017 and two in 2018. -
Publication
Georgia Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Performance Assessment Report: City of Tbilisi
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10)The purpose of this Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment is to provide an objective analysis of the present performance of the PFM system in the City of Tbilisi against the PEFA indicators. This PEFA provides an update of progress in PFM in the municipality since the last PEFA in 2014 and establishes a new PEFA baseline using the 2016 PEFA methodology. The assessment covered expenditures by subnational government budgetary units. Revenues are collected by the Georgia Revenue Services on behalf of the municipality and this was considered not applicable. There are no extra-budgetary units and no local government below the municipality level. Overall, the results of the PEFA show that public financial management systems in the City of Tbilisi are strong and improved as the PFM Reform Action Plan has been implemented. The aggregate expenditure side of the budget performs largely according to plan. There is an impressive array of information regarding the finances of the municipality. As a result, the budget documents include most of the basic, and much of the supplementary information, required to support a transparent budget process. Information on performance plans and achievements in service delivery outputs and outcomes across the sectors under the municipality is very good. However, a strategic selection process is lacking in managing the public investment program although monitoring and reporting of implementation is sound. Good progress has been made towards a comprehensive medium-term expenditure framework based on a program budgeting for results approach. There is an effective budget calendar although the issuance of ceilings could be made timelier. The legislature has sufficient time to carry out its scrutiny function. -
Publication
Croatia’s EU Accession: Case Studies on Reform and the Transposition of the Community Acquis
(World Bank, Vienna, 2016)Croatia, a founding member of the former Republic of Yugoslavia and a current member of the European Union (EU), is a high-income country in Europe and Central Asia. Given that high quality financial reporting promotes good corporate governance, reduces uncertainty and risk, can help to lower the cost of capital, and boosts investor confidence, it will play a critical role in the country’s strategy to champion private sector led growth for economic development. Croatia’s preparation to join the EU required reform of its corporate financial reporting framework and practices, among other things, and laid the foundation for enhanced financial reporting and increased transparency. Although the country’s accession to the EU on July 1, 2013 was a single historical point in time, it encapsulated years of transformation of the statutory and institutional framework in every aspect of the economic, social, and political spheres of the country. The purpose of this report, which focuses on Croatia’s adoption and implementation of the corporate financial reporting aspects of the acquis’, company law, is to enhance understanding of how successful transitions work in practice, that is, what makes some reforms succeed where others fail. It attempts to answer questions such as: what happens when countries adopt international standards; what issues arise when one tries to merge differing legal traditions; how to achieve reform when there are capacity constraints and key implementing institutions are missing; what are the different strategies that can be used during various phases of a reform process; and, more generally, what factors encourage failure or lead to success? -
Publication
Report on Possible Improvements on Management of Revenues from Auctioning of EU ETS Allowances and Use of Flexibility Mechanisms in Romania
(Washington, DC, 2015-11)This report is on possible improvements on management of revenues from auctioning of European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) allowances and use of flexibility mechanisms in Romania. The principal objective of this report is to propose improvements on management of revenue from the auctioning of EU ETS allowances, as well as describe possible use of flexibility mechanisms in Romania, in order to mobilize and enable both public and private actors to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from economic activities in non EU ETS sectors in line with EU targets. The report focuses on possible actions in the timeframe 2016-2020, aligned with EU ETS phase and EU target for 2020 and 2030. The report is positioned amid the wider context of a vision for Romania to become a climate resilient, low-carbon economy, which has mainstreamed its climate policies and actions into smart, green, and inclusive growth, described in the National Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth Strategy for Romania 2016-2030 and 2015-2020 Climate Action Plan prepared by the World Bank for Romania. The report found that until now, there had been no clear and effective procedure for the administration of ETS auctioning revenue, and no selection and prioritization criteria. The lack of selection and prioritization criteria and guidance for using ETS auctioning revenue to finance GHG emission reduction projects allowed for the selection of projects without proper assessment in terms of their reduction of GHG emissions, as well as cost effectiveness and other important factors. In order to maximize the environmental, social, and economic impact of possible sectoral climate investment programs, and based on international experience, the World Bank’s expert team proposes to use the following criteria for prioritizing and selecting non-EU ETS sectoral programs to be financed with EU ETS auctioning revenue: (i) cost efficiency of Emissions Reduction; (ii) leverage of public money to private finance; (iii) possibility for rapid development and scale up; (iv) lack of other financing mechanisms; and (v)support for job creation. Based on these criteria, the report recommends supporting the following climate investment programs for the years 2016-2020:(a) replacing household light bulbs, air conditioning units, individual heating systems, refrigerators, and washing machines with more performant ones; (b) upgrading household buildings insulation; (iii) implementing local, small- and household-scale renewable energy production; and (iv) forestry and biomass production, and land use improvements. It was concluded that the proposed improvements on managing revenue from the auctioning of EU ETS allowances laid out in this report could be used by the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, as a responsible body for climate policy, for internal discussions with other Romanian ministries and agencies to reach consensus on the next steps.