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.

FreeBalance realizará la presentación: “Qué podemos aprender sobre sostenibilidad de los países en desarrollo?”, en el próximo Taller de Trabajo de Administración del Sector Público del FMI

La sostenibilidad es un mandato para muchas organizaciones gubernamentales de los países en desarrollo y además, una necesidad diaria. ¿Qué podemos aprender de las prácticas de sostenibilidad de la administración financiera pública y tecnología de la información de estos países? El próximo lunes 28 de mayo, FreeBalance compartirá las lecciones aprendidas de los sistemas de administración financiera gubernamental sostenible. El Taller de Trabajo de Administración Pública del Sector Público del Instituto de Administración Financiera de Canadá (FMI*) se llevará a cabo entre el 27 y 29 de mayo próximos en Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canadá. El tema de este año del Taller de Trabajo de Administración Pública del Sector Público es “Sostenibilidad en el Sector Público, Asegurando el Futuro.”

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Replanteando casos empresariales para ERP en el gobierno

Doug Hadden, Vicepresidente de Productos, explica su punto de vista sobre el uso del ERP* (Administración de Recursos Gubernamentales): “Estoy básicamente en contra de la idea de utilizar la ERP para la administración pública financiera. Sin embargo, intenté explicar el argumento de la ERP en el gobierno. La evidencia sobre los altos costos y altas tasas de fracaso del ERP en el gobierno continúan creciendo. El caso empresarial para ERP en el gobierno sigue siendo débil.”

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Consolidación fiscal: Buscando el equilibrio

El debate sobre austeridad vs. crecimiento se ha vuelto más intenso, mientras países en Europa y otros lugares luchan con un bajo crecimiento, alta deuda y creciente desempleo. Básicamente, se les está pidiendo a los formuladores de políticas que aplaquen la peor crisis desde la Gran Recesión. Esto no será una tarea fácil bajo ninguna circunstancia, pero es considerablemente más difícil por el hecho que muchos de los países deben iniciar una consolidación fiscal simultáneamente.

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Reformas presupuestarias en el sur de Asia

Afganistán: Como resultado de los proyectos de hacer que el presupuesto funcione (MBW*) y hacer que el presupuesto y aire funcionen (MBAW*), ahora los presupuestos son preparados a tiempo y reflejan cada vez más las prioridades de la Estrategia Nacional de Desarrollo de Afganistán (ANDS*) y las necesidades de la provincia. Bangladesh: En línea con la nueva legislación denominada “Ley de Fondos Públicos y Administración del Presupuesto de 2009″, el presupuesto ahora se presenta a tiempo (antes de marzo) a la legislatura. India: El sistema de tener Comités Parlamentarios Permanentes que analizan las demandas enviadas por los gabinetes ministeriales se ha convertido en parte integral del escrutinio de las demandas presupuestarias por parte de la legislatura.

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*por sus siglas en inglés

Elmer Fudd -wikipedia

“be vewy vewy quiet, ERP vendors are hunting wabbits?”

Doug Hadden, VP Products

FUD – “fear uncertainty and doubt” is a technique used in the technology industry to raise concerns about competitors. Wikipedia defines this as a disinformation tactic. FUD can be effective when the disinformation is based on facts. Vendors extrapolate an argument from those facts to create uncertainty in the customer’s mind. It’s not an attractive part of the software industry. Yet, frequently used.

Openness and FUD

The Internet changes the FUD calculus. On one hand, it provides more opportunity for vendors to understand competitors’ weaknesses. It’s all there on web site, product reviews and social media. On the other hand, vendor FUD based on outdated information or made-up information is quickly exposed. This can make these vendors look like cartoon characters – not unlike Elmer Fudd.

Why FUD about FreeBalance?

I sometimes wonder why ERP vendors don’t play to their strengths. Play the high road. It’s probably because these vendors have a competitive disadvantage in Government Resource Planning (GRP) – higher Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and failure rates.

It continues to amaze me whenever I hear that these vendors suggest that FreeBalance software is not web-based. As I heard earlier this week from one of our business partners.

Web-based or Web-enabled?

Here’s the thing: the FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 is completely web-based. Not web-enabled. No client/server code. No wrapping of proprietary programming languages to interface with Java. No legacy code. Completely re-written in Java. In other words, web-native. Built on Java Enterprise Edition. More web-based than ERP products.

This fact should not be a mystery to any ERP vendor’s competitive intelligence unit. We’ve been talking about our technology for about 5 years. We’ve been vocal on the blog.

Perhaps ERP vendors are confused because some FreeBalance customers are not running the latest version of software. That’s because we don’t force customers to upgrade to the latest version. That’s an ethical stand.

I’m curious. Do you think that the following legacy languages used by ERP vendors mean that their software is really web-based?

• Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP)
• PeopleTools
• Procedural Language/Structured Query Language (PL/SQL)

Competitive Intelligence

Competitive Intelligence is a profession. There is an association called Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). I held a “CI” position some years ago. I recall researching to discover if a competitor’s weakness had been overcome. We kept a competitor inventory and had to be quite certain that this inventory was accurate. We needed to make sure that our people in the field did not sound like buffoons. And, easily outsmarted by a wabbit.

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

Manuel Pietra Elected President of the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) for 2013-14

FreeBalance is pleased to announce that its President & CEO, Manuel Pietra, has been elected President of the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) for 2013-14. As President, Mr. Pietra will serve as the Chair of the Executive Committee and will provide vision and leadership to support the continued growth of the ICGFM as the world’s foremost community of PFM practitioners.
Find out more >>

FreeBalance Presents “The [Social] Future of Public Financial Management” at Annual ICGFM Conference in Miami

Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products, presented at the 26th Annual International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) Conference this past week in Miami, Florida. The FreeBalance presentation provided a roadmap for Public Financial Management (PFM) in the 21st century by examining how developing nations and emerging economies are leveraging technology to leapfrog developed countries.
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FreeBalance Showcases Cutting-Edge Government Performance & Transparency Solutions at Annual ICGFM Conference in Miami

FreeBalance showcased the latest Government Resource Planning (GRP) solutions for public sector performance and transparency at the 26th Annual International Consortium on Government Financial Management (ICGFM) conference this past week, which focused on Public Financial Management (PFM) in the 21st century. FreeBalance showcased government performance management and open data software and implementation methodology proven to improve government results and value for money at interactive sessions.
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Meet FreeBalance in New Brunswick at the FMI Public Sector Management Workshop

FreeBalance continues to attend and participate in conferences and events around the world including the upcoming Financial Management Institute of Canada (FMI) Public Sector Management Workshop on May 27-29, 2012 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The theme for this year’s Public Sector Management Workshop is “Sustainability in the Public Sector – Securing the Future.”
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The Institutional Structures of Financial Sector Supervision

The global financial crisis made us rethink financial sector regulation and supervision. As part of this process there has been a renewed interest in the institutional structure of financial services supervision. This includes reflections on the differences in these structures across countries, their development over time and their relative performance in the run-up and during the crisis.
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Extending Treasury Single Account Coverage in Rwanda to Include Development Partners Project Accounts

International good practice dictates that government controlled trust funds and extra-budgetary funds should be brought within the Treasury Single Account (TSA). Although all Rwandan donor project accounts reside within the National Bank of Rwanda, none of these project accounts have been integrated with the government’s primary Treasury Single Account. From a cash management perspective, shifting donor project funds from their current accounts in the Central Bank into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) will be of immense benefit to the government.
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Alex Howard, Radar‘s Government 2.0 Correspondent for 
O’Reilly Media, asked some compelling questions in a recent article: Citizen Audit: Which federal agencies have published open government plans 2.0 online. It’s a bit spooky because I posted: Citizen Audit Use Cases and Public Financial Management a few days earlier. Alex was looking at transparency commitments in the US federal government while I was focused on general use cases. Nevertheless, both articles ask us whether open data makes citizen audit a civic duty.

Citizen Audit Approaches

Open data enables citizens to determine whether governments are meeting objectives. For example, Alex Howard built a spreadsheet showing which US Federal Agencies are publishing open government plans meeting the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget. My use cases focused on compliance, fraud and performance audits by citizens and civil society.

Open Data and Civil Involvement

Elections provide sporadic and light democratic involvement. Open data enables more substantial involvement between elections. It enables a virtual agora of civic discourse. And, open data informs this discourse with evidence and facts. Rather than opinion. And punditry. If we were to consider McLuhan’s tetrad of media effects to analyze open government:

• Enhances: Information access and insight – introduces data journalism
• Obsolesces: Dogmatic approaches and partisanship - particularly as practiced in talk radio or television
• Retrieves: Political agora, decisions made by the Iroquois, the New England direct democracy model etc.
• Reverses: Information overload

Marshall McLuhan Tetrad: Retrieves and Reverses

Insight about the future effects of a medium are best discovered through the retrieval and reversing phenomena. (Enhances and obsolesces tends to be easy to understand but provides little insight into the ultimate effects of any medium).

Open data will increase data available to citizens. This could create  information overload. Many observers, like Andrea di Maio suggest that the problem is not so much the volume as the usability of open data.The effect may mean that those citizens with interest or those with expertise may provide significant value to improving government programs. This might dis-intermediate traditional media and move from a broadcast model of political discourse to a 1-on-1 model.

Cognitive Surplus and Civil Duty

The fundamental difference between open government and traditional broadcast is that government operates in-network rather than out of network. It changes the social contract: transparency becomes a government mandate and citizen participation a civic duty. We can no longer complain about the lack of government effectiveness if we are part of the “network”.

It’s unclear whether tapping into the cognitive surplus of experts will be sufficient for citizen audit. Perhaps information accessibility through visualization while overcoming the digital divide will be necessary to fully tap the “wisdom of citizens.”

There are signs of the internet as virtual political agora. Participatory budgeting is a significant phenomena. In my view, open government will extend participatory budgeting to on-line collaboration. Outcomes from budgets will be analyzed by civil society to improve follow-on budgets. Therefore, citizen audit will become performance-centric. Value-based. And, a civic duty.

November 2009: I was asked to step in at the last moment to present at the Financial Management Institute of Canada.

Topic: The Business Case for ERP in Government.

Problem: I’m fundamentally against the notion of using ERP for public financial management. Nevertheless, I made a stab at explaining the argument for ERP in government [see embedded presentation]. Evidence continues to mount about high costs and high failure rates for ERP in government. The business case for ERP in government remains weak.

Strength of the ERP in Government Business Case

1. ERP improves efficiency and productivity: Automated processes are more efficient than manual processes. Yet, ERP systems often introduce unneeded complexities. And, many government ERP users report that systems are unable to fully automate all processes. Many studies suggest that companies do not gain benefits from ERP until the final phase of implementation.
2. Single ERP has a better value than many Best-of-Breed: The “portfolio management” viewpoint suggests that the cost to support a single ERP instance is far lower than multiple applications. Even though the applications may provide more value than ERP, the management costs are far higher. That’s the premise. ERP systems are highly complex to manage. And frequently need additional best-of-breed anyway.
3. Government transformation: Software vendors suggest that ERP can help government transform. Yet, ERP systems leverage customization (call-outs, scripting, BPM tools, code etc.) to adapt to changing needs. There is a significant cost to continuously adapting software that uses the customization approach.

The TCO Problem

ERP software has a high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Studies of ERP costs suggest that internal costs such as training, employee retention, and IT management is as high as the cost for software across multiple private and public sector markets. Consulting costs can be twice the cost for software. Evidence suggests that consulting costs are much higher in government in the private sector.

Many people ask me how much the FreeBalance Accountability Suite costs. The software cost is often the least relevant cost to governments. Our analysis of 5-year TCO proposals shows that the leading ERP vendor total cost is roughly twice that of FreeBalance. And, that doesn’t include internal cost differences. Or upgrade costs. Or future customization costs.

2009 11 Business Case For ‘Erp’ In Government

Nothing can generate a more heated discussion among government accountants than accrual accounting. Some argue that accrual accounting is necessary to determine the true value of government and eliminate short-term thinking in decision-making. Others argue that the complexity of accrual accounting isn’t worth the effort – and, there really isn’t an objective true value of a government.

Liabilities Problem

Full accrual accounting can expose liabilities that are off the balance sheet: contingent liabilities like natural disasters, entitlements like government pension plans, public-private partnership risks etc. It appears that accrual accounting in government exposes more red ink. Not the best thing to expose if you are a politician in government.

Government as Investment

Andy Wynne, the editor of the International Journal on Governmental Financial Management suggested that education should be capitalized. Increasing education ought to increase government and private sector management. It should increase innovation.

This got me thinking. What if we saw government as an investment? We invest on the stock market giving some companies a premium – the value of the company stock is often much higher than the equity. What factors could accrue as government assets?

1. Immigration

A recent article by Joe Friesen in the Globe and Mail suggests that Canada requires more immigration to fuel growth. Immigration represents confidence in the . Despite all the anti-immigration rhetoric in many countries, immigration is a sign of economic desirability and “good will”.

2. Governance

Many companies are valued higher because of proven managerial stewardship. Higher governance quality means that governments are more effective and better able to leverage opportunities and overcome problems. For example, the Government of Honduras may want the Government of Canada to help adminstrate a free enterprise zone, according to Joshua Keating in Foreign Policy. There are numerous governance indices that could be used to calculate governance value. The World Bank World Governance Indicators that take many factors in account could be an ideal source.

3. Foreign Direct Investment

FDI also shows confidence in country management. This generates economic activity. This investment may spur growth.

Feel free to add your ideas.

FreeBalance est heureux d’annoncer l’élection du Dr. Cleopatra Gittens, la comptable générale d’Antigua-et-Barbuda comme présidente du comité de pilotage international de FreeBalance (FISC). Le Dr. Gittens a été élue lors de la conférence du FISC à Istanbul, en Turquie, au mois de janvier.

En savoir plus>>

Feuille de route vers le 21ème siècle: aligner la réforme de la PFG et les média sociaux

Rejoignez FreeBalance lors de l’évènement annuel de l’ICGFM à Miami pour en savoir plus à propos du «futur (social) de la gestion des finances publiques». La présentation de FreeBalance expliquera les effets des médias sociaux, de la transparence, de la mobilité, de la ludification et de la «consommarisation des TI» dans le gouvernement. La présentation fait partie de la conférence du Consortium international sur la gestion des finances publiques (ICGFM) du 29 avril au 4 mai 2012 à Miami en Floride. La présentation de FreeBalance aura lieu le 30 avril à 11h00.

En savoir plus>>

Le Trésor public de Géorgie organise un atelier sur les réformes du Trésor et du financement extérieur

Un atelier de trois jours du Treasury Community of Practice (TCOP) du PEMPAL s’est tenu à Tbilissi en Géorgie, du 27 au 29 février 2012 au sujet des progrès de la réforme des finances publiques par rapport aux systèmes du Trésor et au financement extérieur. Cinquante intervenants de dix pays ont participé (Albanie, Arménie, Azerbaïdjan, Bélarus, Géorgie, Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan, Moldavie, Tadjikistan et Ukraine). Des experts de la Banque mondiale ont fournit des informations concernant les développements régionaux et internationaux, ainsi qu’un soutien technique aux débats. La rencontre a été accueillie par le personnel du Trésor public du ministère des finances de Géorgie qui s’est avéré être un organisateur chaleureux et merveilleux.

Lire la suite >>

Les conséquences involontaires de l’augmentation du salaire minimum

La plupart des pays autour du monde ont une forme de salaire minimum. Les décideurs ont souvent soutenu que relever le salaire minimum augmente les revenus des travailleurs à faibles revenus et que, par conséquent, cela peut être utilisé comme un outil de diminution de la pauvreté et des inégalités. Certains décideurs soutiennent également qu’une augmentation du salaire améliore la productivité des salariés (Levine, 1992; Raff et Summers, 1987) car cela mène à un accroissement des efforts dans le travail, une réduction du roulement du personnel ainsi qu’une formation en cours d’emploi plus importante (Katz, 1987). Néanmoins, plusieurs études ont démontré qu’une augmentation du salaire minimum sans accroissement de la productivité de la main d’œuvre peut mener à des pertes d’emploi dans le secteur structuré.

Lire la suite >>

Global Findex : la première base de données qui suit la façon dont les adultes utilisent les services financiers autour du monde

Les faits sont là. 50 pour cent des adultes du monde entier ont un compte dans une institution financière formelle. 21 pour cent des femmes économisent à l’aide d’un compte formel. 16 pour cent des adultes de l’Afrique Sub-saharienne effectuent des transferts d’argent par le biais de téléphones mobiles. Il s’agit là de quelques-uns des milliers de points de données qui sont maintenant disponibles dans la base de données sur l’inclusion financière mondiale (Global Findex), la première en son genre pour mesurer la façon dont les personnes utilisent les produits financiers dans les économies et dans le temps.

Lire la suite >>

FreeBalance se complace en anunciar la elección de la Dra. Cleopatra Gittens, la Contadora General de Antigua y Barbuda como directora del Comité Directivo Internacional de FreeBalance (FISC*). La Dra. Gittens fue elegida directora en la conferencia del FISC realizada en Estambul, Turquía en enero pasado.

Conozca más>>

Hoja de Ruta al Siglo XXI: Integración de la reforma PFM y los medios sociales

Acompañe a FreeBalance en el evento anual del ICGFM* en Miami para conocer sobre “El Futuro Social de la Administración Financiera Pública”. La presentación de FreeBalance tratará sobre los efectos de los medios sociales, transparencia, la telefonía móvil, gamificación y la “Consumerizacion de la tecnología de la información” en el gobierno. La presentación es parte de la conferencia del Consorcio Internacional sobre Administración Financiera Gubernamental (ICGFM*) a realizarse entre el 29 de abril y el 4 de mayo en Miami, Florida. La presentación de  FreeBalance se llevará a cabo el 30 de abril a las11:00 a.m.

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La Tesorería del Estado de Georgia huésped del taller de trabajo de tesorería y reformas a la financiación exterior

Entre el 27 y 29 de febrero pasado se realizó en la ciudad de Tbilisi, Georgia un taller de trabajo de PEMPAL de tres días de la Tesorería de la Comunidad de Práctica sobre el avance de la reforma financiera pública en relación a los sistemas de tesorería y financiación externa.  Asistieron 50 participantes de diez países (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaiján, Belarús, Georgia, Kazajstán, Kirguistán, Republica de Moldova, Tajikistan y Ucrania). Expertos del Banco Mundial  proporcionaron información en los últimos desarrollos regionales e internacionales, además del soporte técnico durante las reuniones. Los anfitriones fueron la Tesorería del Estado del Ministerio de Finanzas de Georgia, quienes atendieron a los invitados de forma amable y afectiva.

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Las consecuencias no deseadas del aumento del salario mínimo

La mayoría de los países del mundo tienen alguna forma de salario mínimo. Los formuladores de políticas han argumentado a menudo que aumentar el salario mínimo aumenta el ingreso de los trabajadores de bajos ingresos y por tanto puede utilizarse como una herramienta para reducir la pobreza y la desigualdad. Otros formuladores de políticas dicen que el aumento del salario mejora la productividad de los trabajadores (Levine, 1992; Raff and Summers, 1987) porque conduce a mejorar el esfuerzo de trabajo, reduce la rotación laboral y aumenta la capacitación  (Katz, 1987). Sin embargo, algunos estudios dicen que el aumento del salario mínimo sin el consecuente aumento equiparable de la productividad puede llevar a pérdida de empleo en el sector formal.

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El Global Findex: La primera base de datos que rastrea el uso de servicios financieros de adultos alrededor del mundo

El cincuenta por ciento de los adultos de alrededor del mundo poseen una cuenta en una institución financiera formal, 21% de las mujeres ahorran mediante una cuenta formal y 16% de los adultos de África subsahariana usan “dinero móvil”. Estos son solo algunos de los miles de datos que se encuentran en la base de datos de Inclusión Financiera Global (Global Findex), la primera de su clase en medir el uso de productos financieros en las diferentes economías.

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*por sus siglas en ingles

FreeBalance is pleased to announce the election of Dr. Cleopatra Gittens, the Accountant General of Antigua and Barbuda as Chair of the FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC). Dr. Gittens was elected chair at the FISC conference held in Istanbul, Turkey in January.

Find out more>>

Roadmap to the 21st Century: Aligning PFM Reform and Social Media

Join FreeBalance at the annual ICGFM event in Miami to learn about “The [Social] Future of Public Financial Management”. The FreeBalance presentation will explain the effects of social media, transparency, mobile, gamification and the “Consumerization of IT” in government. The presentation is part of the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) Conference on April 29-May4, 2012, 2012 in Miami, Florida. The FreeBalance presentation takes place on April 30^th at 11:00 a.m.

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Georgian State Treasury Hosts Workshop on Treasury and External Financing Reforms

A three-day PEMPAL Treasury Community of Practice (TCOP) workshop was held in Tbilisi, Georgia on February 27-29, 2012 on public finance reform progress related to Treasury systems and external financing.  Fifty participants from ten countries attended (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine).  Experts from the World Bank provided information on regional and international developments and technical support to the discussions.  The meeting was hosted by the State Treasury of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia who proved to be warm and wonderful hosts.

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The Unintended Consequences of Increases in the Minimum Wage

Most countries around the world have some form of minimum wages. Policymakers have often argued that raising the minimum wage increases the income of low-income workers, and therefore can be used as a tool to reduce poverty and inequality. Some policymakers also argue that wage increases can improve workers’ productivity (Levine, 1992; Raff and Summers, 1987) because they lead to increases in work effort, reductions in job turnover and more on-the-job training (Katz, 1987). However, several studies find that increases in minimum wages without commensurate increases in labor productivity could lead to job losses in the formal sector.

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The Global Findex: The first database tracking how adults use financial services around the world

The facts are in. 50 percent of adults worldwide have an account at a formal financial institution. 21 percent of women save using a formal account. 16 percent of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa use mobile money. These are just a few of the thousands of data points now available in the Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database, the first of its kind to measure people’s use of financial products across economies and over time.

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Ottawa, Canada (May 3, 2012) – FreeBalance, a leading vendor of Government Resource Planning (GRP) software, is pleased to announce that its President & CEO, Manuel Pietra, has been elected President of the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) for 2013-14. As President, Mr. Pietra will serve as the Chair of the Executive Committee and will provide vision and leadership to support the continued growth of the ICGFM as the world’s foremost community of PFM practitioners.

Mr. Pietra’s two-year term as President of the ICGFM begins in January 2013. “The ICGFM plays an important role in influencing the next generation of public financial management around the world,” said Mr. Pietra. “The ICGFM is committed to enhancing PFM and working with governments to improve accountability, transparency and service delivery to citizens. This is an important mission and there’s no question that the ICGFM is making a difference in the world.” Mr. Pietra will succeed current ICGFM President Linda Fealing when her tenure concludes at the end of the year.  Mr. Pietra will serve as President Elect at ICGFM for 2012.

The ICFGM is the only worldwide group of organizations and individuals focused on public financial management. The Consortium encourages members to work collaboratively to promote PFM knowledge sharing among public officials at all levels of government. FreeBalance is a Sustaining Member of the ICGFM and sits on the Board of Directors. Other ICGFM board members include representatives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, USAID, Inter-American Development Bank, Association of Government Accountants (USA), Development Gateway Foundation, Institute of Internal Auditors, and U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Mr. Pietra’s Presidency was announced at the 26th Annual International Consortium on Government Financial Management (ICGFM) conference taking place this week in Miami, Florida. The conference is being attended by delegations from more than 40 countries. The 2012 the program includes PFM expert speakers from around the globe including Austria, Cambodia, Canada, India, Jordan, Korea, Namibia, Nepal and the United Kingdom. A conference highlight is the first “Open Forum on PEFA” presented by the PEFA Secretariat on May 3 and 4. Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessments are used to evaluate PFM processes and government transparency. The PEFA Secretariat will present a new tool for PEFA assessments, describe trends in PFM performance, and introduce Phase 4 of the PEFA Program.

About Manuel Pietra

Manuel Pietra is the President & CEO of FreeBalance. He is a global executive with more than 25 years of successful management experience with companies in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Latin America. Mr. Pietra has held executive positions on the boards of several international companies, participated in several successful IPO’s, and actively participated in the venture capital arena.

As President and CEO of FreeBalance, Mr. Pietra leads global growth strategies and customer engagement. Mr. Pietra has transformed FreeBalance into a customer-centric and socially responsible company.  His leadership and vision led the company to win the prestigious 2009 Canada Export Achievement Award. Most recently, Mr. Pietra won the 2011 Next Generation Executive of the Year Award sponsored by the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI).

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance is a recognized leader in fast, adaptable and successful GRP implementations. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000, and a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide. FreeBalance provides software solutions for public financial and human resource management, and supports reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

About ICGFM
Working globally with governments, organizations, and individuals, the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) is dedicated to improving financial management by providing opportunities for professional development and information exchange. The ICGFM was established over two decades ago to serve as an international forum for public sector financial managers. More at www.icgfm.org.

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Media Contact:

Matthew Olivier
FreeBalance Inc.
(613) 301-9653
molivier@freebalance.com