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2. Disentangling Government Responses: How Do We Know When Accountability Work Is Gaining Traction?
- Author:
- Jonathan Fox, Brendan Halloran, Alta Fölscher, and Rosie McGee
- Publication Date:
- 01-2024
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Accountability Research Center (ARC), American University
- Abstract:
- Advocacy for public accountability aims to produce certain reactions from government officials or service providers. However, the reactions can be many and diverse, and it is not always clear to advocates how to interpret them and decide on next steps—whether to intensify efforts or back off; continue the same strategy or make adjustments. This paper presents a framework to help accountability advocates and practitioners interpret government reactions to their efforts and move forward appropriately. The framework arises from learning and reflection in the context of the International Budget Partnership (IBP)’s Strengthening Public Accountability with Results and Knowledge (SPARK) program. SPARK seeks to bolster the collective agency of marginalized communities and coalitions to advance democratic and equitable fiscal governance systems that channel public resources to services that address the priority needs of these historically excluded groups.
- Topic:
- Government, Governance, Accountability, and Financial Management
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
3. U.S. Department of Agriculture National Finance Center Modernization Assessment
- Author:
- Margaret Graves, Alan Balutis, Anthony Scardino, and Renee Wynn
- Publication Date:
- 07-2023
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)
- Abstract:
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Finance Center (NFC) is an Office of Personnel Management-certified shared service center that provides payroll, human resources management, and financial services. The NFC assists the USDA and other government and quasi-government agencies in achieving cost-effective, standardized, and interoperable solutions that provide the functionality to support those agencies’ strategic financial management and human resource management direction. The NFC services more than 170 diverse agencies and provides payroll services to more than 600,000 federal employees. The NFC’s core operations are in New Orleans, LA, with additional sites in Washington, DC, and Denver, CO. The NFC’s backup facilities are in St. Louis, MO, and Shreveport, LA. The USDA NFC required an assessment of its mission and operations as a shared service provider and its organizational capacity to meet ongoing mission requirements efficiently and effectively going forward. The USDA contracted with the Academy to provide a modernization assessment of the NFC. The Academy Analyzed the NFC's governance and finance structures, supporting technology systems and processes, internal organization and infrastructure, and stakeholder engagement; Reviewed how the NFC evaluates and benchmarks its service levels and performance; Examined how the NFC budgets as a shared service provider—including workload forecasting, capital investment, operations and sustainment, and rate/fee setting—and considered the benefits of alternative funding structures; Examined the NFC's collaboration with its stakeholders, including customers, Congress, other USDA components and federal agencies, and the OMB; Reviewed the resources needed to support the NFC in its mission delivery; and Identified, with NFC, the "desired future state" of the NFC and what supporting functional changes are needed for the NFC to achieve that desired future state.
- Topic:
- Modernization, Information Technology, Financial Management, and Public Administration
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
4. Public Financial Management and the Digitalization of Payments
- Author:
- Marco Cangiano, Alan Gelb, and Ruth Goodwin-Groen
- Publication Date:
- 06-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- The ability of digital payments to deliver better outcomes for governments, businesses, and individuals—including driving financial inclusion—has been one of the success stories of the digital age. Payments are central to how governments transfer and receive financial resources; however, the way such payments are made—and how they could be made more effectively—is often not mainstreamed in public financial management (PFM) despite the fact that many of the direct benefits from effective digitalization of payments are identitical to those traditionally expected from strong PFM systems.The digitalization of payments does not provide a silver bullet for solving PFM problems; therefore it needs to be approached in an integrated way, with strong leadership from central agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, to exploit the synergies between the many different types of payments facilitated by digital technology. The paper explores the linkages between the digitalization of payments and PFM, including through four case studies.
- Topic:
- Finance, Digitalization, and Financial Management
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
5. The Experience of Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Integrated Financial Management Information System Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa: What is the Balance Sheet?
- Author:
- Mfandaedza Hove and Andy Wynne
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
- Abstract:
- A Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) are two of the standard reforms promoted and supported by the World Bank and other aid agencies in almost every country in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper provides a balance sheet of the relative success, or otherwise, of these reforms over the last decade. The aims and objectives of the MTEF and the IFMIS are outlined, indicating the initial hopes for these reforms and the increasingly strident warnings that this promise was not being delivered. The paper then argues that it was the economic problems across Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the late 1970s and early 1980s, resulting from external events, which led to a worsening of the quality of financial management and governance. This contrasts with the dominant view that it is poor governance that is holding back economic development across the continent. This leads to considerations of effective alternative approaches; the need for real country led reforms which build on the particular existing public sector financial management system in each country; and puts a priority on basic internal financial controls and reforms which have been clearly proved to be successful in similar environments.
- Topic:
- Debt, Reform, Public Sector, and Financial Management
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Rwanda, and Sub-Saharan Africa