Other Financial Accountability Study
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Publication
Anticorruption Initiatives: Reaffirming Commitment to a Development Priority
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-20)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. -
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
Open Data Readiness Assessments: Lessons Learned
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-06)This paper is intended to capture the main lessons learned from conducting Open Data Readiness Assessments and assisting countries with their implementation. Where appropriate examples have been cited, sometimes by name of the country involved where the lesson learned was positive. -
Publication
Inclusive and Effective Citizen Engagement: Participatory Budgeting--Makueni and West Pokot Counties
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-05-01)The introduction of citizen engagement into law is an idea that is gaining popularity around the world. New provisions in Kenya’s Constitution enshrine openness, accountability, and public participation as guiding principles for public financial management. Yet, translating participation laws into meaningful action on the ground is no simple task. With support from the Kenya participatory budgeting initiative (KPBI), and the commitment from West Pokot and Makueni County leaders, PB is being tested as a way to achieve more inclusive and effective citizen engagement processes while complying with national legal provisions. This report describes the PB approach being adopted by Makueni and West Pokot counties. It seeks to provide detailed information on the step by step process that the two Counties have adopted and describes the support provided by the KPBI. At the national level, the report is mostly targeted towards PB practitioners and county officials interested in introducing PB as part of their budgeting cycle. The report seeks also to inform a wider audience of PB and citizen engagement practitioners on the Kenyan experience to date. -
Publication
Strengthening Public Financial Management Reform in Pacific Island Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-08-04)The Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Center (PFTAC) produced ‘A Public Financial Management Roadmap for Forum Island Countries’ (“The Roadmap”) in 2009 (PFTAC 2010). This document was adopted at the Forum Economic Ministers’ Meeting (FEMM) of the Pacific Island Forum as an agreed approach to Public Financial Management (PFM) reform in Forum Island Countries. The document established the need for regular Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessments and the development of PFM reform plans for Pacific countries based on PEFA assessments and other inputs. Based on international experience, the document concluded that PFM reforms in Pacific countries should, among other things: i) reflect country priorities; ii) take account of country constraints, including capacity constraints; and iii) have strong country ownership and take political dimensions into account.Five years on from the adoption of the Roadmap, this report examines experiences of PFM reform in two Pacific island countries in order to inform future improvements.This report does not assess current PFM systems in case study countries. Rather, it provides an analysis of previous experiences with PFM reforms, focusing on the research period 2010-2014. PFM problems identified in this report may have since been resolved. The recommendations of the Roadmap reflect that capacity constraints are a defining feature of government in Pacific island countries.There is a growing consensus regarding the importance of prioritization in Pacific PFM reform.Building on the recommendations of the Roadmap, this report draws on recent literature regarding ‘problem-driven approaches’ to further inform analysis of and recommendations for prioritization of PFM reforms. This report represents the conclusions of joint work between the World Bank, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Overseas Development Institute. -
Publication
Strengthening Oversight: Improving the Quality of Statutory Audits in the Philippines
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)Since 2003, the Philippines have been striving to implement reforms aimed at improving audit quality. Oversight of the audit profession is a key control over the financial reporting architecture of a country’s private sector. A Quality Assurance Review system over audit practitioners is a subset of oversight which serves as a key monitoring control over the integrity of financial reporting. In keeping with the country’s strategic priority of boosting private sector development by improving the investment climate for firms of all sizes, including greater access to finance, legislation was enacted to support the objective of increasing the integrity of private sector financial reporting through improved audit quality. Accordingly, the Board of Accountancy was mandated with the power to conduct oversight into the quality of audits of financial statements through a review of the quality control measures instituted by auditors in order to ensure compliance with the accounting and auditing standards and practices. . However, the injunction remains in place and, accordingly, implementation of the mandated Quality Assurance Review Program may not move forward. Several concrete steps should be taken in order to effectively move forward with the rollout of a comprehensive system of public oversight including audit quality assurance in the Philippines. These include (1) reforming the legal framework to establish an effective audit oversight system with sufficient legal power and authority (2) rationalizing the statutory audit threshold to minimize the conditions contributing to low quality audits, (3) building support among key stakeholder groups by properly addressing their concerns to the extent possible, (4) ensuring coordination of efforts among regulators to eliminate gaps and overlaps and foster collaboration among the group, and (5) establishing a dedicated Project Management Office to oversee the rollout of a Quality Assurance Review Program over audit practitioners. -
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
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
Republic of the Philippines Diagnostic Review of Consumer Protection in the Banking Sector: Volume 2. Comparison with Good Practices
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)The Philippines has made an impressive progress in consumer protection in the banking sector, as shown by the wide range of laws and of regulatory instruments, their active use and enforcement, and by provision of complaint resolution services. The 2013 Global Survey on Financial Consumer Protection indicated that the Philippines compares well with the other economies and yet there is space for further strengthening of the financial consumer protection framework. In order to improve access to financial services, their usage and quality, and further deepen the financial sector, the Philippines has to design and implement a sound financial consumer protection regime with prudential regulation and supervision. This World Bank’s Diagnostic Review was undertaken in response to a request from the Bangko Sentral ng Philipinas (BSP). It provides a detailed assessment of the consumer protection framework in the banking sector, with a particular focus on debit and credit products provided by BSP regulated banks. The review addresses the following areas: 1. Institutional Arrangements, 2. Legal and Regulatory Framework, 3. Transparency and Disclosure, 4. Business Practices, 5. Complaints Handling and Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, and 6. Consumer Awareness and Financial Literacy. Volume I summarizes the key findings and recommendations and Volume II provides comparison with the World Bank`s Good Practices for Financial Consumer Protection.