Sustainable Public Financial Management

Doug Hadden, VP Products

We were very happy to get an invitation to give a short 15 minute presentation at  InterAmerican Development Bank workshop yesterday. My focus was on the disturbing trend of problems with custom developed Government Resource Planning systems in Latin America and the problems associated with customizing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for government. There has to be a better way – Commercial-Off-The-Shelf GRP systems like FreeBalance. It’s the GRP tipping point.

Doug Hadden, VP Products

A FreeBalance team attended an InterAmerican Development Bank workshop from May 15 to 17: International Workshop on Public Financial Management for IFMIS Coordinators. [Presentations are located on that web page and my Storify version of tweets during the event are below.] We prefer the term "Government Resource Planning" (GRP) to "Integrated Financial Management Information Systems" (IFMIS). Nevertheless, IFMIS (SIAF in Spanish) is the term most often used among International Financial Institutions. 

We were very happy to get an invitation from the IDB to attend the entire conference and to give a short 15 minute presentation. (It was actually 14 minutes.) Three Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors were also invited, but only Oracle came and presented. Our partners Samsung SDS and Everis also presented. 

We've been going to Public Financial Management related conferences and workshops for some time. Insight in what is working and what isn't working is progressing. Patterns are emerging. And, many of these patterns are relevant across countries. In this case:

• Analysis of why some Public Financial Management reform doesn't work as expected and how to organize reform to achieve success from Matt Andrews of the Harvard Kennedy School, whose recent book, Limits of Institutional Reform, is a seminal work 
• Analysis of the links between GRP systems and extent of budget transparency by Cem Dener of the World Bank. He introduced a study that will be published in June with a budget transparency rating for 175 countries. He showed countries grouped in A, B, C and D. The main outlier was our customer Timor-Leste rated as an A thanks to the transparency portal that we developed that integrates with our GRP system.
• Analysis of drivers for accountability and GRP systems from Philipp Krause of the Overseas Development Institute who showed that the push from transparency can often come from internal government demand without any democratic insitutions.
• Significant problems in the dominant model for IFMIS in Latin America – custom developed software and significant problems with ERP in government elsewhere.

It was in this environment that I presented about the advantages of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) GRP software like FreeBalance and the need for software vendors to be committed to customer successes.

This series examines different scenarios and the impact of Government Resource Planning (GRP) to improve governance. [Framework described in more detail.]

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) initiatives such as Government Resource Planning (GRP), sometimes known as Financial Management Information Systems (FMIS) for government, are seen as an expression of PFM reform. Diamond and Khemani suggest that “the establishment of an FMIS has consequently become an important benchmark for the country’s budget reform agenda, often regarded as a precondition for achieving effective management of the budgetary resources. Although it is not a panacea, the benefits of an FMIS could be argued to be profound.” 

IMPACT: General agreement that Public Financial Management and institutional reform is critical to improving governance

PROBLEM: The pace of PFM reforms often slows because of the inability for information systems to adapt to new needs

OTHER FACTORS: Sequencing of reformsdiffers because of differing country contexts  

SCENARIO: Continued and sustained activation of required PFM functionality based on country governance needs

Matt Andrews has pointed out the importance of regulative, normative, cultural-cognitive mechanisms to understanding the country governance context. Richard Allen suggested that there is no consensus model for sequencing.  The need for more in-depth understanding of context in government is further complicated by what Cindy Jutras describes as a lack of agility in Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that are often used in government. This series demonstrates how GRP can be used to improve governance and enable governance reform.

Government Resource Planning Progressive Activation

The GRP “progressive activation” lifecycle can be described as:

1. Technical GRP Platform consisting of one of more modules is installed in a government organization after a thorough needs analysis
2. This needs analysisis used in a system configuration to meet government PFM needs
3. Governments modernize and create new PFM laws through legal reform that can include new procurement guidelines, transparency initiatives and support for international standards
4. Governments also  develop improved processes through process re-engineering
5. Governments build civil service capacity to improve fiscal discipline and efficiency
6. These changes require functional improvements that need to be configured in the GRP Platform that can include more advanced functions and new modules
7. A typical initiative is to improve citizen delivery and decision-making through decentralization that requires some devolution of responsibilities yet maintaining budget controls
8. Government Performance Managementfunctions such as audit enables governments to identify opportunities for governance improvements in areas such as anti-corruption, risk management and efficiency improvements
9. Dashboardsand other analytical methods also identify opportunities for reform
10. Progressive Activationenables sustainable PFM reform as the cycle returns to GRP Processes where the GRP system can adapt to multiple stages of reform 

Governance Toolset

The progressive activation scenario requires the ability for GRP systems to adapt to changing requirements:

• Centralized method for change across all GRP modules is preferred to complex “Master Data Management” exercises across modules from different vendors
• Reliance on software code customization (code development, call-outs to code, and complex scripting languages) adds significant costs and time at all stages of reform, especially when this code is in proprietary software languages owned by the COTS vendor
• Methodology and process is intertwined with technology otherwise governments are often faced with entry-level custom developed software that does not reduce poor practices or inappropriate “out-of-the-box” functions from COTS vendors

There are GRP governance tools operating at every stage in the PFM reform lifecycle including:

• Controls
• Chart of Accounts that aligns all government financial activity to budgets, users, purpose, organizational structure and accounting types for fiscal discipline – the COA tends to change because of government reform to introduce program budgeting, performance measures, standards support or accrual accounting
• Segregation of Duties ensures proper fiscal discipline – duties tend to change as governments decentralize, and reorganize
• Integrationensures that controls and functions operate consistently across multiple modules – integration requirements tend to increase as new modules and users are added
• Procedure Workflow articulates proper processes and controls – the workflow tends to change as governments introduce more advanced functional

Some governance tools augment specific parts of progressive activation lifecycle:

• Needs analysisis augmented by methodology tools that generate system blueprints (that often include multiple stages) following appropriate good practices
• Configuration includes changing parameters, adding fields of information, adjusting business rules and workflow as part of controls
• Legal reformand process re-engineering is enabled through change management methodology tools that ensures appropriate reforms for the country context and effective socialization of those reforms – and the linkage with policy
• Capacity building is enabled through configuration controls  including e-learning, user certification and localized help and terminology that adapts to meet increase in civil service knowledge
• Functional improvements requires controls to upgrade parameters, information fields, business rules and workflow that includes typical initiatives like movement to accrual accounting
• Decentralizationis supported through the configuration controls
• Auditing includes compliance and performance audits decision-making tools that provides information to eliminate practice deficiencies through controls  and typically uses the technique of benchmarks within government and with peer governments
• Performance management includes results systems decision-making tools that enable connecting government spending with outputs and outcomes that can improve decions and provide insight into controls changes

Institutional governance enablers that are critical to progressive activation include:

• Capacity of stakeholders including businesses, executive and civil society to create an environment for governance improvements
• Public Service capacity and incentives is important otherwise informal practices will dominate and laws will not be put into practices
• Political Will by stakeholders such as the executive and senior public servants to champion change
• Standardsused in public financials that provides better information to stakeholders
• Accounting procedures used by the government that provides appropriate fiscal discipline using good practices and integrated with controls
• Complianceprocesses and norms within the government

There are other institutional characteristics that are important during the lifecycle include:

• Legislature institutional capacity to ensure debate and passage of appropriate PFM laws
• Focus on improving the efficiency of government processes through automation and functional improvements
• Decentralizationof appropriate controls to enable devolution and improved citizen services
• The independence and enforcement options forinternal and external audit institutions and public service organizations to enable future reforms

It can be argued that appropriate institutional arrangements for PFM reform sequencing will have limited impact without an effective underlying technology system:

• Auditors will be forced to track budget, revenue and spending effectiveness through paper files or across incompatible information systems
• Public servants will not have access to data that measures efficiency or effectiveness in order to recommend changes
• Informal processes will dominate public financial management without automated controls
• Errors in financial processing will not be easily trapped except with an automated system that will show where user capacity needs improvement

Governance Signs

There are numerous signs that are used to measure the governance effectiveness of PFM in this scenario:

• Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability(PEFA) assessments are widely accepted as showing the PFM state-of-the-art in any country. PEFA provides detailed analysis of the comprehensiveness, efficiency and quality of PFM processes
• Quality of Governance Institute measure that provides an index for government corruption, bureaucratic quality and the rule of law

Governance Linkages

In this anti-corruption scenario:

• GRP systems support automated governance tools that enforce fiscal procedures
• Governance tools within the GRP help to improve efficiency and performance
• Features of the GRP optimize government capacity and methodologies ensure capacity building as part of the professionalization of the public service
• Governance tools are progressively activated to enable more advanced functions in sequence with improved capacity
• Improved efficiency and public service capacity can improve the World Governance Indicator, Government Effectiveness

PEFA Impact

Progressive action using GRP with tools and enablers will help to improve ratings for:

• PEFA B Comprehensiveness and Transparency
• PI-5 budget classification could be improved to support program budgeting, reorganization, performance indicators and accrual accounting
• PI-6 increase in the comprehensiveness in budget documents thanks to improved data classification
• PI-7 reduced amount of unreported government operations through decentralization and integration
• PI-8 improved transparency of inter-governmental fiscal relations through decentralization and integration
• PEFA C(ii) Predictability and Control in Budget Execution
• PI-16 improved predictability in the availability of funds for commitment of expenditures through improved budget classification and controls
• PI-17 automation to improve the recording and management of cash balances, debt and guarantees
• PI-20 improved effectiveness of internal controls thanks to effective automated controls
• PEFA C(iii) Accounting, Recording, Reporting
• PI-22 improved timeliness of accounts reconciliation via integration and automation including integration across GRP modules
• PI-23 improved availability of information from service delivery units through increased GRP coverage government-wide
• PI-24 improved quality and timeliness of in-year reports through integration, automation and the use of international standards and good practices in accounting procedures
• PI-25 improved quality and timeliness of in-year reports through integration, automation and the use of international standards
• PEFA C(iv) External Audit and Scrutiny
• PI-26 improved scope of external audit through independence, capacity and access to the procurement audit trail
• PI-28 improved legislative scrutiny of external audit reports because of improved information and increased legislator capacity

Governance Indicators and Outcomes

The improvement of meta governance indicators such as Government Effectives improves trust and investment in countries. Improved effectiveness improves policies, laws and regulation of those laws. These indicators are used by credit agencies and private businesses. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can increase.

It is true that exogenous factors and informal processes can reduce the PFM reform pace. Appropriate GRP technology can enable “small wins” and incremental improvements that enhance institutional efforts and capacity building.

Case Study: Kosovo

PFM reform in Kosovo began with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in 1999.UNMIK created an administrative structure creating the “Central Fiscal Authority (CFA), later renamed the Ministry of Finance and Economy. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite was selected and implemented in 26 days to support a new Chart of Accounts, support budget controls and issue payments.

The GRP system in Kosovo adapted to new reforms by the UNMIK and the Government of Kosovo after independence was declared in fiscal management, public procurement, human resources, budget, decentralization, corruption, cash and debt management.  PEFA assessments also improved with use of GRP functionality cited as partly responsible. Today, Kosovo has rolled out GRP software to all budget organizations are all government tiers. Budget transfer and purchasing responsibilities have been decentralized to improve decision-making and service delivery while maintaining compliance with fiscal controls.

Conclusions

The pace of PFM reform needs to be sustainable to have lasting governance improvements. The information systems must enable rather than prevent reform. There have been numerous failures when inappropriate software is used for government financial management. GRP software can enable reform through:

• Progressive activation of business rules and workflow to support modernization
• Integration of additional software modules that increases automation across government
• Decentralization of processes and responsibilities in concert with capacity improvements
• Government-specific methodologies for needs analysis and change management that includes tackling incentives and informal practices

These tools and techniques are best leveraged by governments with political will, good civil service, legislative and civil society capacity with audit organizations with sufficient capacity, independence and enforcement.

Governance Enablers

Institutions and institutional characteristics such as capacity and political will are necessary to effectively leverage the governance capabilities of GRP. 

PDF & Storified version of presentation made by a FreeBalance team on May 7th. and links to relevant documents discussed.

On Total Cost of Ownership (TCP) for government financial management systems

http://www.freebalance.com/whitepapers/FreeBalance%2013-01%20Good%20Practice%20GRP%20TCO.pdf

Public Financial Management Good Practice GRP TCO by FreeBalanceGRP

On the use of GRP systems for Anti-Corruption

http://www.freebalance.com/whitepapers/FreeBalance%2013-03%20Good%20Practice%20Anti-Corruption.pdf

Public Financial Management Good Practice Anti-Corruption using Financial Systems by FreeBalanceGRP

On the advantages of GRP specialization

http://www.freebalance.com/whitepapers/FreeBalance%2013-07%20Good%20Practice%20GRP%20Specialization.pdf

Good Practices in Government Resource Planning Vendor Specialization by FreeBalanceGRP

Enterprise Software Success Myth #6

FreeBalance is a medium-sized Independent Software Vendor (ISV) with considerable success competing against very large Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors. We are sharing 16 lessons learned by bucking conventional wisdom to encourage industry innovation and creativity.

Conventional View

As described in the ”Customization” is increasingly used to meet end-customer needs. This customization is developed by this “channel” that may generate, on average, between 3 and 5 times the software license revenue.

Emerging Trends

• High costs to customize and maintain these customizations across product releases has exposed high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in traditional ERP models
• Increasing adoption of cloud computing is driven by a need to manage IT costs more predictably and further reduce TCO.
• Complexity and costs have made customization one of the most “dreaded” term in enterprise software
• The customization approach and use of the channel is logical, but, in enterprise software, what should work often doesn’t.
• Many ERP clients find that customization creates barriers to change and process improvement.
• There is increasing recognition that customization is good for software vendors and implementation partners, but not so good for customers.

Public Financial Management Good Practice GRP TCO by FreeBalanceGRP

FreeBalance Approach

FreeBalance has a different approach to “product” than legacy Enterprise Software companies. For one thing, we’re focused on solutions that meet government requirements. That means that products and methodologies need to be adapted and integrated for the government context. Specialization is a compelling advantage to customers faced with complex and generic ERP options.

• FreeBalance is a fully “configured” solution with no code to add new fields of information, add validations, translate to another language, configure any system entity, determine mandatory fields and change workflow.
• As a specialist that commits to government projects, FreeBalance adds any missing features to the core product to eliminate customization and upgrade costs.
• FreeBalance works closely with channel partners to contribute to customer successes.

Good Practices in Government Resource Planning Vendor Specialization by FreeBalanceGRP

Enterprise Software Success Myth #5

Doug Hadden, VP Products

FreeBalance is a medium-sized Independent Software Vendor (ISV) with considerable success competing against very large Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors. We are sharing 16 lessons learned by bucking conventional wisdom to encourage industry innovation and creativity.

Conventional View

Enterprise software companies scale by creating a services channel. This channel promotes ERP and other types of software while supplying labour for implementations. It is thought that labour cannot be scaled within a software manufacturer. Professional services staff at enterprise manufacturers should be focused on a small minority of implementations that extends products. In fact, high professional services revenue devalues enterprise software companies.

Symptom

Large numbers of expensive failures in enterprise software implementations may come from a disconnection between what companies build and how customers use products. This may come from a lack of on-site implementation knowledge for what Michael Krigsman calls the “devil’s Triangle” .

Emerging Trends

• Enterprise software companies are relying most heavily on after-sales maintenance revenue rather than meeting customer needs directly
• Maintenance model from ERP companies is increasingly under attack from 3rd party maintenance organizations and cloud computing providers.
• Failures in ERP implementations are regularly blamed on the victim – the customer .
• ERP vendors determine what new features will be presented in software, usually described at user conferences. These decisions are made with little or no on-site customer experience.
• ERP vendors rarely attend Public Financial Management conferences, and rarely participate to learn about new trends.

FreeBalance Approach

FreeBalance operates “in network” by seeking customer interaction. We realized that the “arms’ length” approach used by ERP vendors increases the likelihood of failure. As I described in 2011, software manufacturer involvement is critical to ensuring success for GRP in emerging nations and developing countries.

Other aspects of the FreeBalance approach include:

• Ensuring that FreeBalance is part of every implementation team. And, ensuring that implementation partners are focused on customer success .
• Using the venue of the FreeBalance International Steering Committee to change the product roadmap to meet customer needs.
• Deep commitment to PFM by participating in conferences and NGOs like FreeBalance ICGFM .
• Also, a commitment to share good practices and PFM futures with the broader PFM community.
• Local hiring to scale implementation commitments, build local capacity and improve insight into changing customer needs.

Isaac Maya, Business Development Manager

I have always been intrigued by government purchasing processes and decision-making. When governments decide to take the initiative to modernize their financial system and enhance their countries Public Financial Management (PFM) system, the common objective is to create accountability, transparency and ultimately increase country revenues and provide economic growth.

e-GP systems can be a major tool to meet those objectives. Yet there are few systems in operation. What are governments waiting for? And, why are multilateral banks setting e-GP project separate from PFM initiatives?

Proven Results not Prompting Action?

According to the Update of Multi-Lateral Development Banks e-GP Toolkit published in 2011: The governments of Chile and Andhra Pradesh reported savings ranging from 3%-20%, and Andhra Pradesh reported reduction in tender cycle time from 130 days to 32 days. The Government of Kazakhstan also reported significant savings from its partly developed system [Kazakhstan Centre for E-Commerce, April 2011].

Shouldn’t multilateral banks be prompted to expedite e-GP funding given these results?

Interconnectivity is of the Essence

Ever been in a situation where you purchase a model helicopter at the beginning of the week and you been waiting for the weekend to assemble, fuel it, take it to a field and fly it around, to later find out it’s missing the ruder? An essential interconnecting piece that makes the whole thing work! Well having a stand alone e-GP system that does not connect to the budget and communicates in real time with the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is as rudderless.

A solid e-GP system allows governments increase competition to achieve lower prices while reducing supplier bidding costs.

To quote the handy e-GP Tool kit once more: An e-GP solution must allow government procurement to be a commercial incentive that encourages productivity and competition, increases anti-trust mechanisms, facilitates the development of SMEs (less entry barriers to government markets), and promotes local and regional trade. The e-GP system provides a business development tool for both governments and supplier communities by providing access to information and opportunities locally, regionally and internationally.

IFMIS systems that have been designed for the private sector such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), require a great deal of development and customization to meet government needs. This becomes doubly difficult if IFMIS and e-GP systems are bought separately.

Advantage of integrated Government Resource Planning (GRP)

The governments of Timor-Leste and Suriname have taken the initiative to modernize their public financial systems. Timor enjoy of a full financial suite that is web-based and can be seenin real time. The GRP approach ensures that all purchases are linked to the budget and that all financial procedures such as internal approvals and length of tendering process are integrated. There is no manual intervention to disconnect procurement from financial procedures. This has increased productivity, revenue growth and the increased of transparency and fair competition in a natural resource exporting country.

Suriname has recently taken on a PFM modernization endeavour, and is in the proper path to further reduce investment risk and promote foreign investments in the multiple sectors of developments, such as tourism, mining and agriculture.

Confusing signals

Now that I have briefly showed you some of the good things a proper government focused e-GP system can provide. Why are multilateral banks keeping IFMIS and e-GP projects separately, when they can and should go together? If one provider has the IFMIS and another the e-GP, this just adds a layer of unnecessary difficulty and creates opportunity for corruption and inconsistent fiscal practices. Some governments realize to late that they have overspent budgets because of the lack of integration

This weekly news update provides the Government Resource Planning (GRP) community with a brief overview of recent FreeBalance developments and relevant industry news.

Technology: the Asymmetric Anti-Corruption Weapon?

In this age of botnets, corporations parsing through personal data and government web blocking, we sometimes miss the asymmetric use of technology to prevent and expose corruption. Many observers fear that technology is a new frontier for corrupt practices. It was interesting this weekend to have two separate twitter discussions on the subject. No anticorruption strategy is foolproof. But we need to understand the interplay between technologies and corruption

Read the full article on the FreeBalance blog >>

The Difficulties and Rewards of so-called “technical” PFM Reforms

It’s the era of PFM myth building and myth busting. Of clichés and fashion. Cynicism and risk aversion. But, ultimately, it’s the era of increased insight into what works in public financial management reform. Current discussions about PFM effectiveness seem to centre about the relative merits of applied technology versus applied practice. We invite you to join in on the discussion.

Find out more on the FreeBalance blog >>

Thailand Introduces Social Media Analytics Tool

The National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Nectec), Thailand has recently launched a social media analytics tool called “Social Sensing” (S-Sense) to evaluate product popularity among the Thai netizens. Social media analytics have captured 10% of the Thai research market over the past three years due to the popularity of social media. Thailand has total of 18 million Facebook users, ranking the 13th country in the world, and 1.5 million Twitter accounts.

Read the article on the FutureGov website >>

Lessons Learned at the Innovation in Government Week

We attended a 2-day conference at the Inter-American Development Bank, Innovation in Government Week: Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the State to Deliver. The conference was focused on lessons learned in Latin America but has wider applicability. There were some very interesting trends in Latin American governance discussed.

Read more about Innovation in Government Week >>

Let’s benchmark aid effectiveness with other government programs

There is probably no public debate so much dependent on bad information and confirmation bias than foreign aid. Polls consistently show that public perception of aid spending is orders of magnitude larger than it is. And, press reporting about aid focuses far more on the bad news than the good. That’s not to say that foreign aid can’t be improved. And, there has been significant work to find evidence of what works and what doesn’t. And, for transparency thanks to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).

Read more about the aid effectiveness debate >>

Ces nouvelles hebdomadaires apportent à la communauté de la planification des ressources gouvernementales (PRG) un aperçu général des récents développements de FreeBalance et des nouvelles pertinentes de l’industrie.

Technologie: l’arme asymétrique de lutte contre la corruption?

À l’heure des réseaux de « botnets », des entreprises décomposant les données personnelles et du blocage de sites Web du gouvernement, nous oublions parfois l’utilisation asymétrique de la technologie pour empêcher et exposer la corruption. Plusieurs observateurs craignent que la technologie soit une nouvelle frontière pour les pratiques de corruption. Cette fin de semaine a été intéressante quant aux deux discussions distinctes sur le sujet sur twitter. Aucune stratégie de lutte contre la corruption n’est infaillible. Mais nous avons besoin de comprendre l’interaction entre les technologies et la corruption..

Lire l’article complet sur le blogue de FreeBalance >>

Les difficultés et les récompenses des réformes dites « techniques » de la GFP

Nous sommes dans l’ère du renforcement et de la démystification du mythe de la GFP. Des clichés et de la mode. Du cynisme et de l’aversion pour le risque. Mais en fin de compte, c’est l’ère de l’accroissement des aperçus de ce qui fonctionne dans la réforme de la gestion des finances publiques. Les discussions actuelles au sujet de l’efficacité de la GFP semblent se concentrer sur les mérites relatifs des technologies appliquées par rapport aux pratiques appliquées. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à la discussion

En savoir plus sur le blogue de FreeBalance >>

a Thaïlande instaure l’outil analytique des médias sociaux

Le National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Nectec) en Thaïlande a récemment lancé un outil analytique des médias sociaux appelé « Social Sensing » (S-Sense) afin d’évaluer la popularité d’un produit parmi les Thai netizens. L’analytique des médias sociaux a capté 10 % du marché de recherche thaïlandais ces trois dernières années grâce à la popularité des médias sociaux. La Thaïlande compte un total de 18 millions d’utilisateurs Facebook qui la classe au 13è rang mondial, et 1,5 million de comptes Twitter.

Lire l’article sur le site Web de FutureGov >>

Les leçons apprises lors de la semaine d’innovation dans le gouvernement

Nous avons participé à une conférence de 2 jours au sein de la Banque interaméricaine de développement; la semaine d’innovation dans le gouvernement : renforcement de la capacité institutionnelle de l’État à fournir. La conférence s’est orientée sur les leçons apprises en Amérique latine, mais avec une application à plus grande échelle. Des tendances vraiment très intéressantes ont été abordées sur la gouvernance en Amérique latine.p>

Lire la suite sur la semaine d’innovation dans le gouvernement >>

Comparons l’efficacité de l’aide avec d’autres programmes gouvernementaux

Il n’existe probablement aucun autre débat public qui dépende autant de la mauvaise information et des préjugés de confirmation que l’aide étrangère. Les sondages indiquent régulièrement que la perception du public concernant l’aide dépensée comporte différents ordres de grandeur qui sont plus importants que ce qu’elle est réellement. De plus, les rapports de la presse au sujet de l’aide se concentrent davantage sur les mauvaises nouvelles que sur les bonnes. Cela ne veut pas dire que l’aide étrangère ne peut pas être améliorée. En outre, il y a eu suffisamment de travail pour apporter la preuve de ce qui fonctionne ou pas. De même que pour la transparence grâce à l’Initiative internationale pour la transparence de l’aide (IATI).

Lire la suite sur le débat relatif à l’efficacité de l’aide >>

Esta actualización semanal de noticias proporciona a la comunidad de Planeación de Recursos del Gobierno (GRP*) una visión general de los recientes desarrollos de FreeBalance y las noticias relevantes de la industria.

Tecnología: ¿Arma anti-corrupción asimétrica?

En esta era de botnets, compañías analizando datos personales y bloqueos web de gobiernos, a menudo nos perdemos del uso asimétrico de la tecnología para impedir y exponer la corrupción. Muchos observadores temen que la tecnología sea una nueva frontera para prácticas corruptas. Este fin de semana fue interesante observar dos conversaciones separadas por twitter sobre el asunto. Ninguna estrategia anticorruptiva es a prueba de tontos. Pero necesitamos entender la interacción entre la tecnología y la corrupción.

Lea el artículo completo en el blog de FreeBalance >>

Las dificultades y recompensas de las llamadas reformas “técnicas” del PFM

Es la era de armar mitos y desmentirlos, de clichés y moda, cinismo y aversión al riesgo sobre la Administración Financiera Publica (PFM*). Pero últimamente es más la era de mayor introspección de lo que funciona en la reforma del PFM. Las actuales discusiones sobre efectividad del PFM parecen centrarse en los méritos relativos de tecnología aplicada versus práctica aplicada. Invitamos a nuestros lectores a unirse a la discusión.

Lea más en el blog de FreeBalance >>

Lea el artículo en el sitio web de FutureGov >>

Lea más sobre innovación en Government Week >>

Lea más sobre el debate de efectividad de la ayuda >>