types of government expenditure control

Payment order. The objective of expenditure control is to ensure that public resources are spent as intended, within authorized limits, and following sound financial management principles. /* tracker methods like "setCustomDimension" should be called before "trackPageView" */ The line ministries have substantial authority in executing the budget. Mariance analysis is the budgeting review technique universally applied for analyzing budgeting estimates. Expenditures authorized through standing/ permanent legislations are forecast and included in the budget documents. In the second phase, the focus should be on progressive devolution of controls to spending agencies in parallel with a reinforcement of procedures for auditing and reporting. These valuations measure the full costs of paying pension benefits. In fact, excessive duplication of controls is a common disease in many countries, particularly in Francophone Africa, which not only results in ineffciency in executing expenditure but also leads to rent seeking by officials who intervene at different stages of the expenditure transaction. Cash plans in these countries are used as tools for rationing expenditure authority but themselves tend to be unrealistically optimistic, as they do not reflect expected cash outflows based on commitments. Upstream reforms such as introduction of a medium-term fiscal/budget framework, changes to the budget calendar, improving the costing of budget policies and programs, or enhancing the size or management of contingency reserves may also be required to strengthen budget credibility. A centralized accounting organization (usually called Accountant General) is responsible for making payments and keeping accounting records. the responsibilities of the relevant actors in enforcing these controls. Commitment-based budgeting systems impose limits on both expenditure commitments and cash payments. Government cash manager and issuer of checks and/or electronic transfer instructions work in coordination to ensure funds are available for payments. PEFA PI-27; and value of check float (or float of electronic transfer instructions) as a percentage of total value of checks (or electronic transfer instructions) issued. The allocation of responsibility to various actors in the exercise of expenditure controls is heavily influenced by their respective administrative traditions of PFM and level of development. Lienert, I., 2003, A Comparison Between Two Public Expenditure Management Systems in Africa, Working Paper WP/03/2, (Washington: International Monetary Fund). Evaluating the strength of expenditure controls and addressing any weaknesses requires a clear understanding of the key features of an effective expenditure control system as well as the different approaches to putting them into practice. The ministry of finance in these countries does not carry out any form of detailed commitment or payment control. Table 4 lists suggested indicators that could be used to assess progress at different stages of the expenditure cycle. In case of relatively simple requirements, a spreadsheet-based application may suffice. Budget calendar revisedand, if necessary, legal framework amendedto ensure budget approval before the start of the fiscal year. Bank-Qualified Municipal Bonds Marketplace Fairness and RTPA State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT) PolicyStatements Accounting, Auditing and Financial Reporting Budgeting and Financial Management Intergovernmental Relations and Federal Fiscal Policy Public Employee Pension and Benefits Administration Apportionment usually follows two steps: (i) apportionment by the ministry of finance, which consists of releasing the appropriation on a quarterly or monthly basis to the line ministries; and (ii) allotment by the line ministries or main spending units of their apportioned appropriations to their subordinate spending units. Mainly commitment, verification, payment order and payment stages, but also at other stages. The key questions to be asked are: (i) whether there are clear laws and financial regulations regarding the controls and the authority and responsibility of relevant actors who should apply them; and (ii) whether the relevant actors understand and apply them in practice. Therefore, entering into a commitment or incurring a liability in excess of the limit would not, in the absence of other controls, constitute a breach of law. Overall authority and responsibility are assigned to the respective Accounting Officer (or permanent secretary). Capital Expenditure Commitment. This will be dependent on sustained improvements in financial management standards and management information, and assurance of a control-conscious culture in each agency. In many cases, a transaction processing system may have to be supplemented by specialized consolidation software to generate the necessary reports in a timely manner. When sequestering appropriations, ongoing commitments should be taken into account. Minimizes the cost of financing government programs by smoothing the gap between cash inflows and outflows. Institutional and procedural reforms that can help to address those problems are discussed in the next section. For a detailed discussion on TSA, see S. Pattanayak and I. Fainboim (2011). It may also have a role in appropriation and commitment controls through its representatives posted in spending agencies (as in Francophone systems). The cash plans should be prepared in conformity with budget authorization and systematically take account of ongoing commitments. Budgets are not the only mechanisms that provide the legal authorization to incur expenditure. If an FMIS is planned or under implementation, some measures towards revamping the expenditure control framework will have to be implemented in tandem with the FMIS. The Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland) do not have a separate treasury department in the ministry of finance. While this was a common practice in most of the Latin American countries several years ago, many countriese.g., Bolivia, Columbia, Paraguay, and Uruguayhave in recent years separated the accounting and audit functions. The authority for expenditure is Verification of goods and services (contrle du service fait): This control involves: (i) verification of the goods and/or services delivered by a supplier to ensure that these conform to the specified quality and quantity; and (ii) a calculation of the liability incurred by the government to the supplier. Arrears are the expenditures at the verification stage that have not been paid by the due date of payment specified either in specific contracts or procurement legislation or assumed under general commercial terms.12. The first and each subsequent actuarial valuation report includes valuation results for the purposes of measuring changes in the cost of the pension scheme against the employer cost cap, expressed as a percentage of pensionable pay. multi-year limits for certain types of expenditure (e.g., autorisation d'engagement: for multi-year investment projects in Francesee Box 3). When it increases, aggregate demand increases, and we expect the economy to grow higher. In addition, the approach did not stipulate any time frame for agencies to upgrade their PFM standards, and there was an underestimation of their capacity-building needs. While the controls may be well specified and the roles and responsibilities of the key actors clarified in a countrys legal/regulatory framework, problems may still arise due to lack of enforcement. The TSA systems in some of these countries give financial incentives for smoothing expenditure profiles. Morocco has been implementing a reform of financial and expenditure control since 2006 that seeks to gradually transfer this responsibility from the ministry of finance to line agencies while ensuring adequate safeguards (through strengthened oversight) against the resulting risks of abuse. For example, a treasury-based centralized payment system with decentralized responsibility for appropriation and commitment controls at the line agency level can be progressively introduced as the FMIS is rolled out (subject to adequate connectivity between the line agencies and the treasury). This includes, but not limited to: failure to check the availability of funding before authorizing expenditure; failure to record and maintain data on commitments; delays in processing of payments; circumvention of controls at key stages, including through collusion; and poor record keeping, including of verification documents. Payment order. Both the central agency/finance ministry and line agencies are involved in various tasks during the expenditure cycle. Key strengths: line agencies directly accountable for the use/control of their appropriations; and no complementary period. A key question is whether reforms should focus on strengthening the traditional system or leapfrogging to the modern devolved approach. At this stage, there is no commitment, but it is known that the expense will be incurred during the budget year and, therefore, the reserved funds should not be used for other activities. Key strengths: centralized payment and treasury accounting system. 4, Paris. This technical note and manual (TNM) addresses the following issues: Key stages of the government expenditure chain; The roles and responsibilities of the key institutional actors in exercising those controls; Approaches to expenditure control in different PFM traditions; Diagnosing weaknesses in expenditure control systems; and. 1. As such, the focus of expenditure control at the commitment phase of budget execution has moved from an annual to a multiannual basis, i.e., the total cost of a legal commitment into which the government is entering into is fully recorded against the available multiannual commitment authorizations/AEs. Overall authority and responsibility for budget execution are assigned to the respective line minister who delegates this up to the stage of payment order. Without accounting for the state rollback error, the total general fund revenue and expenditure budget which funds police and fire, parks and recreation and public works is $157.9 million . Once checks are made to ensure that all previously stipulated controls have been performed and documented, a payment order is issued. This control can also apply to the wages/personnel expenditure in the sense that a designated official (e.g., the head of the division/department) certifies that the respective staff have performed their duty during the time period for which wages are to be paid. While the answer to this question will depend on specific country context and weaknesses, in general caution should be exercised in the devolution of controls in countries that are at the initial stage of development of PFM systems (e.g., fragile states), or with weak capacity at line agencies to implement the required controls, and/or without strong institutions of ex post oversight (internal and external audit). This authority to spend is released to the spending units through the issue of warrants/allotments/dcret de rpartition, or other mechanisms.9 Some form of centralized control during this phase of the expenditure cycle is common in almost all countries and is usually enforced by the budget department of the ministry of finance. Verification. Countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) have tended to retain centralized treasury departments to control and process government payments, while controls at the commitment, verification and payment order stages remain with the line ministries/agencies. To provide accountability, the budget proposals should be sub-divided by entity/purpose. Issuance of payment orders is integrated with a well established cash plan that is updated regularly with inputs from spending and revenue agencies. This is what constitutes the hierarchical and risk-based control (control modul de la dpense) that Morocco has started to implement since 2008 (based on Decree n 207-1235 of November 4, 2008). A unit of government, typically a line ministry, department or agency, is assigned the responsibility to ensure that the appropriated resources are spent as intended within the authorized limits. This principle of separation of responsibility means that no single individual or agency controls all stages of an expenditure transaction.29 The system has also a number of potential redundancies, e.g., the control of regularity is applied both by financial controllers and public accountants. For further background information and discussion on specific features of commitment control, see D. Radev and P. Khemani (2009). Information and discussion on specific features of commitment control, see S. 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