<p> PUBLIC EXPENDITURE NEWS Issue 1 The Launch of Public Expenditure Online Sept/Oct ‘99</p><p>In this Issue Welcome The first issue of Public Expenditure News will cover the following topics: Welcome to the first issue of Public Expenditure News. I. The Launch of Public Expenditure Online This newsletter is produced by II. Features of the New Web Site the World Bank's Public III. Cambodia PER -- QAG Approved! Expenditure Thematic Group. It IV. Highlights from the Budget Reform Workshop is a platform for highlighting V. Financial Management Information Systems events and work done by VI. Good Practice in Public Expenditure Management: An practitioners and scholars in this Initiative of U.K. Department for International area which is central to an Development (DFID) effective public sector. All of the work featured in this newsletter will be available on Launch of Public Expenditure Online or accessible through the Public Expenditure Public Expenditure Online is a web site that was developed and Online web site at: is coordinated by people working in the Public Sector Group www.worlbank.org/publicsector/ within the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management pe/index.htm. Network of the World Bank. The site was launched in July and is a product of many individuals who work on public expenditure You are receiving this issues within the Bank and throughout the international newsletter because you were on a mailing list or have a contact community. who requested that your name be added. If you want to Public Expenditure Online is intended to be a key resource for subscribe or nominate someone those wanting to capture different experiences and disseminate else, please send an e-mail to them among other practitioners. The system is continually publicexpenditure@world evolving and will be updated regularly to reflect new bank.org. Let us know if you information and to improve on existing inputs. To view the web wish your name to be deleted. site, go to www.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/index.htm. Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to others who Features of the Web Site may find any of the topics interesting. The web site is expansive, covering a wide range of public expenditure topics. On each web page within the site, a brief Public Expenditure Briefs note is available that gives people less familiar with the topic an overview of public expenditure and the World Bank's work in Analysis of Public Expenditure this area. To examine the topics covered, see the box on the . Role of the State right entitled "Public Expenditure Briefs". To view the briefs, go . Public Spending and Budget to www.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/index.htm. and click on Deficits a topic that interests you. . Public Spending in a Market Context . Public Spending for Equity Additional public expenditure web site attractions . Fiscal Federalism and Public Spending Calendar of Events: A list of current events on public expenditure. Public Expenditure Management Features: Highlights of recent work on public expenditure. . Introduction to PEM New: A list of interesting and recently published documents. . Institutions for Fiscal Documents: Over 350 resources can be accessed by viewing key Discipline readings, good practices, and lessons learned. These readings . Linking Policy, Planning and are available by selecting a topic from the navigation toolbar and Resources Regulation of Performance scrolling down to the bottom of the page. .</p><p>The World Bank - Public Sector Group Page 1 PUBLIC EXPENDITURE NEWS Issue 1 The Launch of Public Expenditure Online Sept/Oct ‘99 . Financial Management Systems and Controls information/accounting basis . Ensuring Compliance -- Monitoring and Enforcement for budgeting; approaches to . Organization & Management of Central Agencies fiscal risk and reporting requirements; and the Other Resources: This page supplies links to several other timeframe for budgeting. government web sites, non-governmental organizations, and professional organizations engaged in public expenditure Sample of Other Web Sites analysis and management. A sample of sites are contained in the box on the right. To get a complete listing of web sites that U.S. General Accounting Office we link to, go to: www.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/resources.htm. http://www.gao.gov/</p><p>IDASA Cambodia PER - QAG Approved ! http://www.idasa.org.za/default . asp The 1998 Public Expenditure Review (PER) for Cambodia, task managed by Su-Yong Song, was recently reviewed as part of The New Zealand Treasury the Quality Assurance Group's (QAG) ongoing assessment of the http://www.treasury.govt.nz/ quality of economic and sector work. The PER was rated as highly satisfactory and best practice. This was a first for any Organization for Economic PER reviewed by QAG. Cooperation and Development http://www.oecd.org/</p><p>The Quality Assurance Group has developed standards for what International Federation of constitutes "good" economic and sector work. Using a Accountants standardized questionnaire a task team rates where a PER is http://www.ifac.org/ along a spectrum ranging from highly satisfactory and contains elements of best practice to reflects a broad pattern of Center on Budget and Policy deficiencies. Priorities http://www.cbpp.org/staff. Sanjay Pradhan (ECSPE), who led the review team for the html Cambodia PER, outlined the reasons for the rating. On the SIGMA substance Sanjay highlighted the sound analytical framework - http://www.oecd.org//puma/sig using the three levels of the Public Expenditure Management maweb/index.htm Handbook; the presentation of alternative macroeconomic scenarios; and the attention given to both the efficiency and Papers from the Budget equity of expenditure. On the process, Sanjay noted the Reform involvement of government and the peer review contributions. Workshop http://www.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/cambodiabbag.htm Ecuador: Challenges in Reform, Budget Reform Workshop Marina Vasilara and Gray Reid</p><p>A Budget Reform Workshop was held from July 15 – 16, 1999 at A Civil Society Perspective, the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Budgeting Warren Krafchik experts, Graham Scott and Allen Schick, were commentators Results-Oriented Budgeting: during this two day workshop that focused on issues of The Case of Chile, Mario Marcel sequencing reform efforts and the capacity to leapfrog to a high performing budget system. Budget Reform - Malaysia, Arunaselam Rasappan Several case studies were presented during the two days. They focused on issues such as the relationship between budget Hungary: Reforms in Public reform and other public sector reforms; the link between Finance Management, Hana budgeting and policy making at the center of government; the Polackova Brixi extent to which the reforms strengthen the three core Ghana: Issues in the MTEF, objectives of budgeting: aggregate fiscal discipline, strategic Malcolm Holmes prioritization, and operational efficiency; the</p><p>The World Bank - Public Sector Group Page 2 PUBLIC EXPENDITURE NEWS Issue 1 The Launch of Public Expenditure Online Sept/Oct ‘99 (To access these and other papers on Budget Reform, go to (http://www.worldbank.org/pu http://www.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/budgetsem.htm) blicsector/pe/index.htm.).</p><p>To see a sample of papers, look at the box on the right. The papers can be found at: Highlights from the Next http://www.worldbank.org/publicsector/pe/budgetsem.htm. A Newsletter! summary of comments made by Allen Schick and Graham Scott will be made available on the site shortly. Harare Workshop: From October 23 to October 28, the World Bank, in conjunction with Financial Management Information Systems a South African NGO, the Institute for Democracy in The importance of reliable and timely financial information has South Africa (IDASA), and the long been emphasized by those concerned with fiscal policy International Budget Project outcomes and aggregate expenditure discipline. There has (based in the U.S.) will co- been less acknowledgement of the dependence of effective sponsor a workshop that will resource allocation and use on this same information. The both examine the key budget World Bank and a number of bilateral donors are working with issues dominating country discussions and the role of civil countries to improve the quality of financial information for the society in those discussions. full range of budgetary and management needs. A seminar on PEM Toolkit: As part of a FMISs will be held during the course of the 1999 Annual broad based effort to develop a Meetings of the Bank and Fund. This will draw on previous series of diagnostic tool-kits to successful seminars on this issue inside the Bank. The seminar assess institutional will feature a case study from Guatemala. For further arrangements as they bear on information, please visit the public expenditure web site. public sector performance, work is nearing completion on a public expenditure management Good Practice in PEM: An Initiative of DFID toolkit. </p><p>The Department of International Development (DFID) has Sample Papers from the identified the need to enhance its ability to support DFID Workshop improvements to public expenditure management in partner countries. DFID decided to take the process forward by Controlling and Managing contracting Oxford Policy Management to: Personnel Costs, Kithinji Kiragu</p><p>1. Commission a number of case studies and issues papers to Creating Budget Incentives for review reform experience in different developing countries Better Performance and Better and consider specific aspects of public expenditure Budgetary Control, Peter Brook management reform. 2. Organize and facilitate a workshop for government Facilitating Expenditure representatives from Sub-Saharan African countries to share Prioritisation in Education, Perran Penrose reform experience, identify good practice and the appropriate role of donors. (To access these and other papers from the DFID 3. Organize and facilitate a second international workshop in Workshop, go to the UK to improve understanding within DFID of good http://www.worldbank.org/publi practice in public expenditure management, key reform csector/pe/dfid.htm issues and the most suitable approaches for effective external assistance. Please let us know what you think! The second workshop took place 28-30 July at Eynsham Hall, Oxford. The papers commissioned and the full report are available in the World Bank's public expenditure web site</p><p>The World Bank - Public Sector Group Page 3 PUBLIC EXPENDITURE NEWS Issue 1 The Launch of Public Expenditure Online Sept/Oct ‘99 If you would like to contribute articles, resources or any other information on the subject of public expenditure, please send an e-mail to: [email protected]. We also welcome all feedback and suggestions.</p><p>The World Bank - Public Sector Group Page 4</p>