Public financial management

About

Governments must deliver public services within a sustainable financial framework. As revenue is rarely sufficient to meet demand, public money must be managed carefully to ensure sustainability for the medium and long term. Therefore, robust public financial management systems are essential at all stages of the budget cycle – from formulation to execution, including procurement, financial management and control, and internal audit. Furthermore, the existence of an independent and efficient supreme audit institution to exercise professional scrutiny of the executive’s management of public funds is a crucial feature of any democratic financial accountability system.

Key elements

The requirements of a sound public financial management system can be summarised as follows:

A strong and well-organised ministry of finance equipped with the necessary administrative capacity and supported by a legal framework that allows it to exercise its role.
Cost-effective public internal financial control systems, incorporating financial management and control and internal audit, across the entire public administration.
An independent and professional supreme audit institution supported by a legal framework that allows for high-quality audits that affect public sector functioning.
Good public procurement practices.

What SIGMA does

SIGMA assists countries in enhancing their public financial management capacity through:

Helping ministries of finance as central bodies for formulating, implementing, monitoring and controlling budget execution.
Supporting public institutions in developing public internal financial control through peer reviews and policy papers to enhance their institutional capacity in this area.
Helping the competent authorities review and revise strategies and regulations, set up and strengthen central public procurement institutions, train officials, introduce modern procurement approaches, and monitor performance.
Supporting supreme audit institutions with their progress towards compliance with good European practices, in line with the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions.