Publication: Salient Issues in Income and Asset Disclosure Systems : Lessons Learned from the Field in Preventing Conflict of Interest and Combating Illicit Enrichment
Loading...
Published
2010-06
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Asset disclosure (AD) systems also referred to as financial disclosure or asset declarations can play two important roles within broader anticorruption efforts prevention and enforcement. On the prevention side, AD requirements can help bring to light conflict of interest risks faced by public officials who file ADs, thereby facilitating the avoidance of conflict of interest situations. On the enforcement side, AD requirements can provide one more source of information that may be used in the investigation and prosecution of suspected illicit enrichment cases, thereby aiding asset recovery efforts. Effective collaboration, both domestically and internationally, between policy makers and practitioners is essential for such benefits to materialize. In an effort to identify how best to design and implement an AD system, the report recognizes that each country ultimately must design a system that is tailored to the environment in which it will function. As such, the study analyzes some of the tradeoffs faced by policy makers and practitioners alike in designing and implementing an optimal AD system in a particular context. The report complements the Public Sector Governance Group's development of AGI, which include a set of indicators for both the legal framework and implementation of AD systems. These indicators are available to World Bank staff for monitoring and evaluating AD policies and procedures and for engaging in dialogue with client countries; they also are available to other interested parties outside the Bank.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Burdescu, Ruxandra; Reid, Gary; Trapnell, Stephanie; Barnes, Dan; Kwapinski, Modest; Berger, Tammar. 2010. Salient Issues in Income and Asset Disclosure Systems : Lessons Learned from the Field in Preventing Conflict of Interest and Combating Illicit Enrichment. PREM Notes; No. 151. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11083 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Income and Asset Disclosure Systems : Establishing Good Governance through Accountability(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-06)Financial declarations or income and asset disclosures (IADs) are quickly becoming an important tool for anticorruption agencies and governments to fight corruption. IAD systems can play two important roles within a broader framework of good governance: prevention and enforcement. In an effort to discover how best to design and implement an IAD system, the analysis conducted suggests that countries ultimately must design a system that best complements the environment in which it will function. However, there are several key principles that policy makers and practitioners need to consider: limit the number of filers to improve the odds of success, set modest and achievable expectations, provide resources commensurate with the mandate, and prioritize verification procedures to align with available resources, and balance privacy concerns with public access to declarations.Publication Income and Asset Disclosure : Case Study Illustrations(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-05-03)The requirement that public officials declare their income and assets can help deter the use of public office for private gain. Income and asset disclosure (IAD) systems can provide a means to detect and manage potential conflicts of interest, and can assist in the prevention, detection, and prosecution of illicit enrichment by public officials. Growing attention to anticorruption policies, institutions, and practices has led to increased interest in financial disclosure systems and the role they can play in supporting national anticorruption strategies and in helping to instill an expectation of ethical conduct for individuals in public office. IAD systems are also a key element in the implementation and enforcement of provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and other international anticorruption agreements. This attention has sparked interest among policy makers and practitioners in the design features and implementation practices that make for effective financial disclosure administration. The case studies collected in this volume are intended to profile a range of systems and practices to help respond to this growing interest.Publication Public Office, Private Interests : Accountability through Income and Asset Disclosure(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012-03-16)The fight against corruption is a developmental imperative. While international efforts have achieved some significant results, they also illustrate the extent of the challenges that remain. A key lesson of experience is that tackling corruption needs to be waged simultaneously on two fronts: prevention and enforcement. Both approaches are complementary and self-reinforcing. The vast scale of illicit financial flows from the proceeds of corruption and the challenges associated with national and international asset recovery efforts call, in particular, for significant investments in prevention and a broadening of prevention tools. Income and asset disclosure (IAD) systems are gaining prominence as a tool in the fight against corruption, and have the potential to support efforts in both prevention and enforcement. This contribution is recognized in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and other international anticorruption agreements. Chapter one of this guides provides an overview of the objectives of IAD systems, identifies the relevant international anticorruption instruments, and provides a summary of key considerations that should influence the design, implementation, and enforcement of an IAD framework. Chapters two and three drill down into the design of IAD systems and address practical aspects of implementation.Publication Enhanced Transparency in Procurement through Voluntary Disclosure under the RTI Act 2005(Washington, DC, 2009-03)Good practices reduce costs and produce timely results; poor practices lead to waste and delays and are often the cause for allegations of corruption and Government inefficiency. Enhanced transparency in procurement through voluntary disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) Act (2005)' is one of the individual components of the larger initiative undertaken by Yashwantrao Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA) under the national resource centre for social accountability, and funded by the World Bank institute, New Delhi. Sound public procurement policies and practices are among the essential elements of good governance. The objective of the study is to: study the current procurement process; suggest measures to tackle the discrepancies by developing mechanisms; and enhance social accountability and transparency in the procurement process by focused implementation of right to information as a tool. The project takes into account the four pillar approach towards public procurement which believes that unless all the aspects of the function (i.e. efficiency, economy, fairness and transparency) are taken care of, the overall impact will not be evident. The focus of this project is mainly on social accountability. Obviously the focus of the study is on transparency and how by making the systems more transparent the other aspects of fairness, efficiency and economy can be pushed for reforming the procurement process.Publication Asset Recovery Handbook : A Guide for Practitioners(World Bank, 2011-01-18)The handbook is organized into nine chapters, a glossary, and ten appendixes of additional resources. Chapter one provides a general overview of the asset recovery process and legal avenues for recovery, along with practical case examples. Chapter two presents a host of strategic considerations for developing and managing an asset recovery case, including gathering initial sources of facts and information, assembling a team, and establishing a relationship with foreign counterparts for international cooperation. Chapter three introduces the techniques that practitioners may use to trace assets and analyze financial data, as well as to secure reliable and admissible evidence for asset confiscation cases. The provisional measures and planning necessary to secure the assets prior to confiscation are discussed in chapter four; and chapter five introduces some of the management issues that practitioners will need to consider during this phase. Confiscation systems are the focus of chapter six, including a review of the different systems and how they operate and the procedural enhancements that are available in some jurisdictions. On the issue of international cooperation, chapter seven reviews the various methods available, including informal assistance and mutual legal assistance requests; and guides practitioners through the entire process. Finally, chapters eight and nine discuss two additional avenues for asset recovery-respectively, civil proceedings and domestic confiscation proceedings undertaken in foreign jurisdictions.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 1994(New York: Oxford University Press, 1994)World Development Report 1994, the seventeenth in this annual series, examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services. In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport. Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services - especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor. But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy. Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital. Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization. The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure. To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement. Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure. First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services. Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services. Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance. This report includes the World Development Indicators, which offer selected social and economic statistics for 132 countries.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.