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) World BankWhile 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) Gourfinkel, DmitriThis 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 Republic of Argentina, Province of Buenos Aires: Improved Public Financial Management for Better Service Delivery in Health and Education Sectors(Washington, DC, 2015-10) World BankThe objective of this report is to assess public financial management (PFM) systems existing at the province level with a particular focus on the health and education sectors, and to understand linkages existing between the institutional settings in these two sectors and PFM processes. By doing so, the report shows the direct impact of poor PFM on service delivery in health and education. Since these two sectors have significant effects on the bottom 40 percent of the population, this will help Argentina’s subnational governments allocate and use public resources more efficiently, and with greater accountability for their expenditure.Publication Strengthening Financial Reporting Regimes and the Accountancy Profession and Practices in Selected Caribbean Countries(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06-26) World Bank GroupThe 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) World BankPublic 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) World BankThis 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) World BankThe 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) World BankIn 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) World BankIn 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 Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism : Honduras(Washington, DC, 2009) World BankThis Report provides a summary of the level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force, and provides recommendations to improve compliance within the prevailing context of Honduras. The views expressed in this document are those of the assessment team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Honduras or the Boards of the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Honduras has set up a number of the fundamental components of an anti-money laundering (AML) regime, through various legislative and regulatory instruments and an institutional framework which includes law enforcement, prosecution, and supervisory bodies. While progress has been made, key changes are needed to laws and regulations in order for Honduras to have more effective money laundering and financing of terrorism regime. There is a lack of strategic direction and coordination among the participants. A focal point and coordination body needs to be established, involving senior representatives of all the entities involved in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing to ensure the most effective and efficient collaboration of the initiative, and to ensure that necessary policy, regulatory and legislative measures can be expeditiously developed, approved and implemented and that initiative wide statistics on workload, performance and results are collected and shared.