Other Financial Accountability Study
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Publication
Building a Financial Education Approach: A Starting Point for Financial Sector Authorities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-01)While the importance of financial capability has been studied empirically, questions remain about program effectiveness, whether and how effectively these skills can be taught to consumers, and if financial education programs lead to sustained behavioral changes that improve one’s financial wellness and inclusion. When studied analytically, the results of financial education have been mixed. The objective of this report is to help guide financial sector authorities to build a more effective approach to financial education. The report synthesizes available resources and complements existing knowledge about financial education. It also explores the appropriate role for financial sector authorities within financial education and outlines a practical approach for financial sector authorities who choose to develop financial education agendas or strategies. Lastly, the report provides an overview of the best tools and practices to improve the effectiveness of financial education initiatives. -
Publication
Regional Study on the Management, Control, and Recording of Fixed Assets: Latin America and the Caribbean
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-10)This report represents a series of studies on the status of the implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards in the Latin America region. The first report of this series, Public Sector Accounting and Financial Information in Latin America, was developed by the World Bank team and issued in April 2015. The general purpose of this second report is to document the status of the management, control, and recording of fixed assets in the countries surveyed, and to propose a comprehensive asset management model to strengthen the region’s public financial management systems in terms of public sector accounting, public investment, transparency, and accountability. The report aims to address the following asset management challenges: (a) accounting methodologies that have been adopted or implemented in the surveyed countries do not necessarily capture all government fixed assets; (b) incomplete or unreliable information on infrastructure assets and projects and other fixed assets, as well as on the provisions related to their upkeep and replacement, creates obstacles to improving public investment policies and enhancing the region’s ability to promote productivity and competitiveness; (c) greater control of fixed assets is directly related to the improvement of transparency and accountability indexes; and (d) governments’ inability to obtain an objective picture of their financial position and performance limits the quality of analysis on the efficient use of public resources related to electoral commitments, fiscal stability, and economic growth in the medium and long term. -
Publication
Strengthening Financial Reporting Regimes and the Accountancy Profession and Practices in Selected Caribbean Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06-26)The main objectives of this report are to: (a) provide a synthesized analysis of financial reporting and auditing standards and practices across the countries in which the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) is active and (b) provide a basis for recommendations to ICAC and respective national institutes for a regional strategy to enhance the accounting profession and the accounting and auditing practices in the public and private sectors. This report’s focus on reforms and identification of areas and means to strengthen the accounting profession have at their root the conviction that systemic enhancements to the standards and practices of the profession can materially improve the lives of the region’s populace, particularly its less prosperous citizens, through greater transparency, strengthened economic growth and its attendant employment and tax revenue prospects, and greater access to financing for and formalization of the region’s dominant sector-micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The report finds that a constraint limiting both investment across the region, particularly to MSMEs that characterize the respective national economies, and the efficient use of public resources is the accounting and auditing practices and the financial reporting regimes that prevail in both the public and private sectors. This finding emerges from: (i) a review of Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes for Accounting and Auditing (ROSC AA) conducted by the World Bank for Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and the countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, and (ii) Bank missions to those countries updating the ROSC findings as well as missions to countries that have not yet had ROSC AA reviews (during which the Bank team met the national accountancy body, regulators of entities that fall within the financial reporting chain, supreme audit institutions, central banks, and so forth so as to secure information that would typically be found in formal ROSC AA reports). -
Publication
Fiduciary Systems Assessment of the Oaxaca Water and Sanitation Sector Modernization Project
(Washington, DC, 2014-03)Public Financial Management of the Mexican Federal administration relies on open and orderly Financial Management (FM) systems based on a strong legal framework, policies, and procedures for execution of public expenditures. These FM country systems are partially replicated in the State of Oaxaca and, in particular, in the Secretariat of Finance (Secretaria de Finanzas, SEFIN), which will be coordinating the overall implementation of the Program, and in the executing entities, the State Water Commission (Comision Estatal de Agua, CEA) and the Oaxaca Metropolitan Area Water Utility (SAPAO), which will be responsible for carrying out technical activities under the Program. Although SEFIN has limited experience in managing Bank-financed operations, and CEA and SAPAO have no such experience, the overall conclusion of the FM assessment is that SEFIN, CEA and SAPAO1 have suitable financial management arrangements, which include the key elements for an adequate implementation of the Program, such as: (i) a formal process of budget planning and execution based on comprehensive legal and normative frameworks; (ii) the approval of the State Expenditures Budget on an annual basis by the State Legislature; (iii) an integrated budgeting and accounting system (SINPRES), which allows for the management and control of financial resources; (iv) organizational structures with adequate segregation of duties, documented in the appropriate Functions and Organizational Manuals, and (v) experienced staff. -
Publication
Ceara PforR : Full Fiduciary Systems Assessment
(Washington, DC, 2014-01)This assessment refers to the fiduciary arrangements governing the program-for-results (PforR) program. The fiduciary assessment found that the procurement and financial management arrangements are in line with OP 9.00 and that the capacity and performance of the implementing agencies are adequate for the purposes of the program. For procurement, the federal framework of laws and regulations is solid and transparent, and is familiar to both public officials and to the private sector. All procurement opportunities, regardless of estimated cost, are published via the internet. This involves establishing a local office or designating a local agent to serve as local representative and obtaining a taxpayer identification number or cadastro nacional de pessoas juridicas (CNPJ). -
Publication
Peru : Diagnostic Review of Consumer Protection and Financial Literacy
(Washington, DC, 2013-11)The diagnostic review for consumer protection and financial literacy (CPFL) provides a detailed assessment of the institutional, legal, and regulatory framework for consumer protection in four segments of the financial. A World Bank (WB) mission visited Peru from March 18 to 27, 2013 to prepare the review. The objectives of the CPFL review were: (i) to assess the existing consumer protection and financial literacy framework by reviewing laws, regulations, and practices in Peru compared to international good practices; and (ii) to provide recommendations on ways to improve the level of financial consumer protection and financial literacy in Peru. It seeks to identify key measures in strengthening financial consumer protection, with the ultimate aim of increasing the availability and transparency of financial information, helping build consumers' trust in the financial sector, and expanding their capacity to wisely use financial services. The review addresses the following issues: (1) institutional arrangements, (2) legal and regulatory framework, (3) disclosure, (4) business practices, (5) dispute resolution mechanisms, and (6) financial education. -
Publication
Nicaragua Diagnostic Review of Consumer Protection in Financial Services: Volume 2. Comparison with Good Practices
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12)In 2010, over 92 percent of the assets in the Nicaraguan financial system were concentrated in the banking sector, while microfinance managed over 5 percent, and all the remaining segments covered less than 3 percent. Starting in the late 1990s and until 2007, the microfinance sector in Nicaragua has expanded robustly at 20 percent average annual growth rate and has been a significant factor of economic growth, particularly in the agricultural small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. The 2008 financial crisis led to a rapid deterioration of the microfinance credit portfolio and the microfinance lending contracted by nearly 20 percent in 2009. While partly this was due to spiking interest rates, over indebtedness and slowing demand, research has shown that inadequate consumer protection and low financial literacy in the microfinance sector also played a role. In order to improve Nicaraguan consumers’ confidence in their financial institutions, this World Bank’s diagnostic review presents strengthening consumer protection in five key areas. Volume I of the review summarizes the key findings and recommendations and volume II provides a detailed assessment of the Nicaraguan consumer protection institutional, legal, and regulatory framework compared to the good practices for three financial segments, namely banking, nonbank credit institutions, and insurance. Volume II also includes an annex that analyzes the results of a field research with financial consumers in Nicaragua. -
Publication
Nicaragua Diagnostic Review of Consumer Protection in Financial Services: Volume 1. Key Findings and Recommendations
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12)In 2010, over 92 percent of the assets in the Nicaraguan financial system were concentrated in the banking sector, while microfinance managed over 5 percent, and all the remaining segments covered less than 3 percent. Starting in the late 1990s and until 2007, the microfinance sector in Nicaragua has expanded robustly at 20 percent average annual growth rate and has been a significant factor of economic growth, particularly in the agricultural small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. The 2008 financial crisis led to a rapid deterioration of the microfinance credit portfolio and the microfinance lending contracted by nearly 20 percent in 2009. While partly this was due to spiking interest rates, over indebtedness and slowing demand, research has shown that inadequate consumer protection and low financial literacy in the microfinance sector also played a role. In order to improve Nicaraguan consumers’ confidence in their financial institutions, this World Bank’s diagnostic review presents strengthening consumer protection in five key areas. Volume I of the review summarizes the key findings and recommendations and volume II provides a detailed assessment of the Nicaraguan consumer protection institutional, legal, and regulatory framework compared to the good practices for three financial segments, namely banking, nonbank credit institutions, and insurance. Volume II also includes an annex that analyzes the results of a field research with financial consumers in Nicaragua. -
Publication
Country Insurance : Reducing Systemic Vulnerabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean
(Washington, DC, 2008-03)This study begins from the premise that output and consumption are more volatile and prone to sharp contractions in developing than in high-income economies. This suggests that developing countries are somehow "underinsured" and may thus need to invest more in "country insurance" policies. To shed some light on this issue, the author begin by providing in the first chapter evidence of the excessive volatility faced by developing countries in general (and Latin American and Caribbean, LAC, countries in particular) and then discuss some of the welfare costs associated with such volatility. In second chapter, the author focus on the main trade-offs and on the strategic choices confronted by developing countries if they decide to increase their resilience to external shocks. Finally, in the third chapter, the author look at different policy options, focusing on how the international financial institutions (IFIs) in general and the World Bank in particular can help developing countries' reduce their vulnerability to external shocks. While excessive volatility in developing countries affects both government and the private sectors, this study limits its focus to the government sector. The private sector challenges will be addressed in future research. -
Publication
Colombia : Bank Financing to Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia
(Washington, DC, 2007-12)Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) represent an important part of the Colombian economy, although they are not well documented in official statistics. In particular, there does not exist sufficient periodic data as to their characteristics, evolution, or overall contribution to the economy - in most cases, SMEs tend to be bundled together with micro enterprises in official statistics. The true size of the market is understated due to informality. Lack of access to finance has been cited as an important problem in recent surveys. However, there are significant differences in perceptions as to the size and causes of the financing gap. While there is strong evidence to support its existence following the 1999 crisis, the significant growth of this market in recent years raises some questions as to whether such perceptions remain valid. One of the lessons of the last few years is that banks will expand SME lending on their own accord - in spite of the presence of important constraints - when they perceive the attractiveness of this market and have begun to saturate easier (in terms of business model) market segments such as corporate and consumer lending. However, in order to ensure the sustainable growth of this market, continued strong macroeconomic performance and a stable and consistent policy framework in the financial sector have been identified as important considerations.