Other Financial Accountability Study

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Anticorruption Initiatives: Reaffirming Commitment to a Development Priority
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-20) World Bank Group
Corruption continues to have a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing the cost of, and reducing access to, health, education, justice, electricity and other basic services, thereby exacerbating inequality. It reduces private investment as it increases risks for investors, with consequent effects on growth and jobs. It distorts public spending decisions and weakens the quality of public investments as substandard infrastructure gets built and the regulatory systems for quality control and safety are bypassed. It erodes public trust in governments, undermining their legitimacy and posing a threat to peace and stability. This paper draws on these lessons and proposes a new approach, both in terms of what we work on and how we work, focusing on initiatives to be led by the Bank’s EFI vice presidency to reaffirm the Bank’s commitment to anticorruption. The initiatives refresh approaches that are showing results, scale up those that are emerging and show promise, or experiment and innovate where fresh thinking is needed in our support to client countries to help them control corruption. In this note, corruption is seen as both a symptom of underlying governance challenges and a problem in and of itself. For practical purposes, and to keep the focus on corruption, the initiatives do not expound on the many aspects of governance that influence corruption. The paper also does not focus on efforts to control corruption risk in World Bank operations, but rather focus on the support that the EFI Vice Presidency will provide to countries in their efforts to control corruption.
Creating Impact: The Promise of Impact Investing
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-11-01) International Finance Corporation
This report takes stock of the market for impact investing and examines the conditions that would allow the market to grow and realize its potential. Historically, there have always been investors who cared about more than just financial returns. Governments and philanthropists, for example, have set up investment vehicles with mandates to promote social and environmental goals. Over the last decade, impact investing has gained prominence as an approach to investment that aims to achieve both financial returns and social or environmental goals.1 This has created a dynamic but somewhat disorganized market of diverse participants, standards, and concepts. Although still small, the market is attracting considerable interest, and it has the potential to increase in scale, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate goals.
Common Core Accounting Syllabus for Universities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-09-13) World Bank Group
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.
Product Design and Distribution: Emerging Regulatory Approaches for Retail Banking Products
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-08) World Bank Group
This note discusses emerging international approaches for regulating design and distribution of retail banking products. Such products include deposit, credit, and payment products, being the products that new financial consumers typically acquire first. Policy makers are finding that financial consumer protection measures implemented to date, such as disclosure requirements, while still important, are insufficient to protect consumers against all key risks. Anticipating new or changing risks to consumers has also become more difficult for regulators given rapid financial sector innovation. Regulation of providers’ product design and distribution processes aims to ensure that products distributed in a market are designed to meet the needs of consumers in that market. This discussion note analyses relevant frameworks in a number of jurisdictions and highlights emerging common approaches, including in relation to requirements for governance arrangements, target market assessments, distribution arrangements and product reviews.
Complaints Handling within Financial Service Providers: Principles, Practices, and Regulatory Approaches
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06) World Bank
Core to an effective financial consumer protection framework is an accessible and efficient recourse mechanism that allows consumers both to know and to assert their rights to have their complaints addressed and resolved in a transparent and just way within a reasonable timeframe. Complaints handling mechanisms are especially important for low-income and vulnerable financial consumers, to whom timely and effective recourse processes can have a decisive influence over their trust in their financial service provider (FSP) and in the financial sector in general. Increased trust contributes to consumers' uptake and sustained usage of financial services and, consequently, their economic livelihoods. Financial consumer complaints handling mechanisms comprise two stages: complaints that are handled by FSPs, generally referred to as internal dispute resolution (IDR); and complaints that, if not satisfactorily resolved, are handled by an alternative, out-of-court process, generally referred to as external dispute resolution (EDR). There are several international sources of principles applicable to complaints handling and resolution processes and procedures to be established by FSPs. Drawing from the World Bank's Good Practices for Financial Consumer Protection, the work of international bodies, such as the Group of Twenty (G20)/Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Task Force on Financial Consumer Protection, as well as selected country experiences this Technical Note highlights considerations that aim to provide a methodological guidance for regulators and FSPs when developing and implementing IDR frameworks to ensure they are consistent with international good practices. This Technical Note synthesizes concepts, principles, and practices for IDR mechanisms for financial consumers and shares examples of legal and regulatory requirements for FSPs to resolve complaints and to ensure that complaints- related data is collected, analyzed, and shared as appropriate to support improvements in FSP performance, industry market conduct, and market conduct regulation.
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) World Bank Group
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.
Anti-Money-Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Risk Management in Emerging Market Banks: Good Practice Note
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the private sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG) and one of the leading investors and lenders in emerging markets. Efforts to strengthen the global financial system following the 2007-2008 global financial crisis have contributed to withdrawal of correspondent banking services, which has a disproportionately negative impact on emerging markets. Increasingly, correspondent banks are paying greater attention to their respondents’ anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML and CFT) program effectiveness, know your customer and customer due diligence (KYC and CDD) programs, and their jurisdiction-related obligations to comply with AML and CFT requirements. In the survey, private sector emerging market banks identified assistance with understanding and adapting to new global standards as one solution component that will be most useful. In response, IFC has published this good practice note: AML and CFT risk management in emerging market banks (GPN) for banks to advance their knowledge and capabilities in AML and CFT risk management and facilitate and support the maintenance of correspondent banking relationships (CBRs).
Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment of Kakamega County, Kenya
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-11) World Bank
The subnational Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment seeks to ascertain the performance of the public financial management (PFM) system of county governments using the PEFA methodology. So far, the Government of Kenya has gained experience in the application of the PEFA methodology by undertaking four national PEFA assessments over the years, the latest of which was carried out in 2017 and the report is due for completion in 2018. However, this is the first subnational assessment to be carried out in Kenya following the adoption of a devolved system of government. It is notable that the national and subnational PEFA assessments are being done almost concurrently, and this is important because both levels of government share the same PFM system, implying that an evidence- based reform agenda can be implemented simultaneously after areas of improvements are identified. The subnational assessments, which covered 6 out of 45 counties, have been jointly financed by the World Bank and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) through the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA).
Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment of West Pokot County, Kenya
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-11) World Bank
The rationale for the public expenditure and financial accountability (PEFA) assessment is to provide a clear and deeper understanding about the functioning of public financial management (PFM) systems as well as the organizational aspects of existing institutions at county levels. The results of the analysis provide useful insights into relevant entry points for desired PFM-related reforms and a benchmark for the necessary upgrade of the PFM systems which are still in the early stages of development within Kenya’s devolved units of government. This assessment was organized and commissioned by Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) in collaboration with the World Bank and involves other organizations. KIPPRA also carried out the actual survey and assessment and was responsible for management and monitoring of the exercise. The assessment period covers three financial years, namely FY2013-14, FY2014-15, and FY2015-16, and focused on various indicators and dimensions as defined in the PEFA assessment tools.
Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment of Nakuru County, Kenya
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-11) World Bank
The subnational Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment seeks to ascertain the performance of the public financial management (PFM) system of county governments using the PEFA methodology. So far, the Government of Kenya has gained experience in the application of the PEFA methodology by undertaking four national PEFA assessments over the years, the latest carried out in 2017 and the report due for completion in 2018. However, this is the first subnational assessment to be carried out in Kenya following the adoption of a devolved system of government. It is notable that the national and subnational PEFA assessments are almost being done concurrently and this is important because both levels of government share the same PFM system implying that an evidence-based reform agenda can be implemented simultaneously after areas that require improvements are identified. The subnational assessments, which covered 6 out of 47 counties, have been jointly financed by the World Bank and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) through the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA).