Sustainable Public Financial Management

Doug Hadden, VP Products

Transparency International published the 2012 Corruption Perception Index yesterday. Corruption has become a dominant theme in the media these days. The media doesn’t seem to be very interested in reporting improved anti-corruption efforts in countries around the world.

Yet, many countries have dramatically reduced corruption perception over the past year. These include remarkable achievements by FreeBalance government customers.

• Timor-Leste has improved 30 places
• Mongolia has improved 26 places
• Liberia has improved 16 places
• Sierra Leone has improved 12 places
• Kosovo has improved 7 places

Government Resource Planning and Anti-Corruption

FreeBalance is a provider of GRP software and services. The FreeBalance technology has been used by governments to reduce corruption. Of course, GRP is a tool within the anti-corruption toolkit as I‘ve written in detail in a previous blog entry. GRP systems can prevent and detect corruption in public finances. But, there needs to be government commitment to reduce corruption.

Doug Hadden, VP Products

The World Bank published a new report Public Financial Management Reforms in Post-Conflict Countries: Synthesis Report that studies eight countries with an interesting video.

As I described a few days ago, FreeBalance has been instrumental in bringing good public financial management practices through Government Resource Planning (GRP) automation to countries ranging from post-conflict to G8.

FreeBalance and Substantial PFM Progress

The Synthesis Report follows a World Bank Economic Premise note last year. Both show that countries that implemented the FreeBalance Accountability Suite have shown substantial PFM progress.

These studies provide some validation that we’re on the right track in enabling sustainable public financial management reform. These studies mention FreeBalance but provide no endorsement of our software or implementation methodology. (That being said, it’s a far sight better than recent analysis of ERP implementations in the United States Department of Defense.)

The closest to an endorsement is the following: “”The revision of the chart of accounts has often been linked to revising budget classifications as well as the introduction of a FMIS as experienced in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.“

Sequencing PFM Reform with Capacity Building

Nevertheless, there is ample evidence in the studies to support the notion that countries should implement a financial management system first (my assessment above on the FMIS approach may not be entirely correct) and sequence reforms as capacity is built.

The report concludes that “reforms of organic budget laws tend to happen over a period of time rather than early in the process, so rushing adoption of new laws too early is not necessary in many cases.” Long reform cycles prior to the adoption of financial management software does not seem to be a good practice.

The report concludes that “while capacity can be short-circuited through substitution (such as donor-funded staff in line positions), developing sustainable capacity remains a challenge and needs greater and more sustained attention.” We’ve seen some excellent examples of capacity building in Afghanistan and Kosovo. The key lesson here is to progressively activate financial software functionality as capacity is built. Systems can be first installed with basic controls and progressively modernized to support the entire government financial lifecycle with more complex accounting functions and decentralization.

And, capacity is not associated with progress according to the report. “Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, with very low per capita incomes and at the very bottom in terms ofhuman development indicators, have progressed further and faster than Cambodia or Tajikistan with relatively higher per capital incomes as well as human development indices.”

Budget Execution Lesson Learned

Budget execution was found to be the PFM area of greatest improvement. The report concluded that “budget execution reforms tend to be more successful, while some rethinking of reform approaches targeting budget planning on the one hand, and control and accountability on the other hand may be needed.” This validates the experience of Steve Symansky as presented the Overseas Development Institute in 2010.

It really should come as as no surpise that budget preparation lags behind budget execution progress. This is similar in developed countries where multi-year budgeting, program and performance measures are not adequately used.

New Dynamic for PFM Reform

I’ve made the argument that donors pushing for reform is but one force for PFM reform. The report touches on the impact of Official Development Assistance for reform. It’s clearly a factor because donor funded the FMIS implementations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the West Bank. And the report concludes that “the provision of budget support also seems to be an incentive for governments to pursue PFM reform, and it can provide a more continuous incentive.” That’s despite the lack of direct budgetary support and the continued use of off-budget funding.

My sense, based on conversations with government officials around the world, is that globalization has created incentives for good governance. Government leaders understand that businesses have choices of where to do business.

Real Governance Outcomes Achieved

It is difficult to make sweeping conclusions from studying a handful of post-conflict countries. The report is clear about this limitation and calls for further study. Some insight was gained such as “progress on overall government effectiveness and control of corruption broadly correlates with the degree of PFM progress achieved in most of the cases.” That’s good news for all organizations promoting the use of government financial management systems tied to PFM reform.

Doug Hadden, VP Products

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite has had a remarkable run of success in post-conflict countries. That shouldn’t confuse people in thinking that’s all FreeBalance does. After all, Canada, the United States, Guyana, Antigua, Panama, Mongolia and other countries that have implemented our software are not post-conflict.

FreeBalance Government Resource Planning (GRP) is successfully implemented in post-conflict countries because the software adapts rapidly to reform. This is a key takeaway for more developed countries – public financial reform and modernization needs adaptable government-specific software. Otherwise: heavily customized ERP or custom-built software with high costs.

The recently released World Bank Public Financial Management Reforms in Post-Conflict Countries: Synthesis Report confirms that Financial Management Information Systems (FMIS) – what we like to call GRP, are critical to reform. And, that countries that have implemented FreeBalance have shown substantial progress in reform.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that FreeBalance software is required for substantial PFM progress. GRP should enable reform. Technology should not slow reform. That’s the key to sustainable public financial management: sustaining reform at an affordable cost.

By James Elrick, FreeBalance

It’s interesting how when I came across the Sierra Leone OGI, I first thought that it was similar to the OGI currently going on in the USA. As I read the Sierra Leone OGI material, I realized the differences, the similarities, and also understood the importance of what the Government of Sierra Leone wants to achieve with the initiative.

For any government, transparency is critical. For the initial phase of the Sierra Leone OGI, which ran from September 2008 – December 2009, the focus was to increase accountability and transparency of the three branches of government (Executive, Parliament and Judiciary) by enhancing the visibility of these institutions, and fostering two-way communications.

The Presidency, relevant Ministers, Members of Parliament and the Judiciary visited districts throughout Sierra Leone to have face-to-face discussions with the people of Sierra Leone. During the initial phase, the OGI used a mix of electronic and traditional media. The first phase was funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

As described as one of the outcomes: “The project also provides the government an opportunity to receive feedback on its performances. Overall, it is hoped a more people-centered governance will lead to a deepening of democracy and trust in the governance authorities.” The UNDP delivered a report at the end of the initial phase.

The good news is that there is now a second phase to the OGI, and that the government has recently implemented a Citizen’s Report Card (CRC) Survey. The second phase aims to increase more civil education channels which will link government and the people through local councils by providing them enough information about the basic features of a democratic political system.

The purpose of the recently announced CRC Survey is to enhance democratic participation through soliciting user feedback on the performance of public service.

The OGI expects the CRC to empower citizen groups to serve as watchdogs in monitoring the delivering of government services. The survey should identify weaknesses in the delivery system and include ideas for improvement.

The collected data will be reviewed by media partners, and the data analysis and report writing will be performed by an independent agency to ensure transparency and proper oversight.

According to a newspaper article: “This survey is already scheduled for November 7 – 21, 2011 in the entire districts and chiefdoms nation wide. The survey intends to administer thirty (30) questions questionnaires which will be based on the issues of implementation of the “Agenda for Change” programme to twenty respondents per chiefdom including the Western Area Rural district and the Western Urban with 120 respondents (40 West, 40 Central and 40 East) totaling 3,180 respondents’ nation wide.”

Learn more information about the Sierra Leone OGI and CRC Survey >>

FreeBalance and the Government of Sierra Leone have been working together since 2005. During that time, FreeBalance has worked with the government to improve Public Financial Management (PFM) services, provide good governance, improve accountability, and increase transparency.

Using the FreeBalance Accountability Suite, a GRP system, Sierra Leone reduces processing times, maintains monthly reconciliation of all bank accounts, prepares timely annual accounts, provides useful reports for management decision-making, and deters fraud by improving the security and availability of a complete audit trail.

Combined with the Government’s OGI efforts over the last four years, and the CRC report card survey, the Government of Sierra Leone continues to modernize, reform and improve transparency.

Sustainable development and private investment in Africa to be central themes of Forum Africa 2011

Ottawa, Canada (6 September 2011) – FreeBalance, a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) software company that helps governments around the world to leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth, is pleased to announce attendance at Forum Africa 2011. This event will be held in Montreal, Canada at the Queen Elizabeth hotel, 5 to 8 September 2011. The list of countries that will be represented includes: Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa. FreeBalance is a member of the Canadian Council on Africa and supports Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms with GRP implementations in Liberia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, and with MCA Namibia. 

The mission of Forum Africa 2011 is to provide innovative tools and approaches for stimulating private investment in Africa. The international business gathering is expected to bring together over 500 participants, African, international and Canadian business, government, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and International Financial Institution (IFI) leaders. Seminar topics at Forum Africa 2011 include: Infrastructure Development (Energy, Transportation, Telecommunications and ICT); Financing of International Trade in Africa; Sustainable Development in Africa’s Wood and Forestry Sectors; and Doing Business in Africa.

“We look forward to meeting delegates at Forum Africa 2011 to share experiences of adapting business processes and products to meet needs in Africa,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO at FreeBalance. “We have seen the positive impact of modern GRP systems in Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, and Uganda. FreeBalance helps these governments improve transparency, governance, and accountability, which leads to improved economic activity and an increase in private investor confidence.”

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is a GRP solution that supports transparency and accountability. FreeBalance solutions for governments and external aid projects and funds simplify administration and reduce transaction costs for government or private organizations managing aid projects. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite automates reporting to donors, project finance management, and project performance management. The FreeBalance solution operates in developing nations around the world, including low-capacity countries, and providing effective donor reporting that meets international standards.

FreeBalance customers span the globe and the user community includes public financial management professionals in 19 countries. FreeBalance operates in 15 customer time zones. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000, and also manages a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide. FreeBalance is active in 19 countries, including Antigua & Barbuda, Afghanistan, Canada, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, Timor-Leste, and Uganda among others.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

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World Bank Economic Premise Note concludes that FreeBalance Government Resource Planning (GRP) customers Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone Demonstrate Most Substantial PFM Progress  

Ottawa, Canada (April 16, 2011) – FreeBalance, a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE) software company that helps governments around the world to leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth, is pleased to announce that the governments of Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone recently received a rating of “substantial” for public financial management (PFM) rebuilding and reform progress. For more details, please refer to the April 2011 World Bank Economic Premise note titled “Strengthening Public Financial Management in Postconflict Countries.”

The authors, Verena Fritz, Edward Hedger, and Ana Paula Fialho Lopes from the World Bank and the Overseas Development Institute, analyzed eight post-conflict countries. Only those governments that have implemented the FreeBalance Accountability Suite achieved the rating of “substantial”. The Government of Liberia is currently in the pilot phase of implementing the FreeBalance Accountability Suite. The report found that “The three countries showing most substantial overall PFM progress—Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone—are also those where automation of PFM systems moved most quickly.” The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is distinguished by the ability to implement quickly and progressively activate. 

“Congratulations to the governments of Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone on progress achieved in public financial management progress and reform,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO at FreeBalance. “FreeBalance is pleased to be working with these governments as they demonstrate leadership in modernising public financial management systems. FreeBalance helps these governments achieve public financial objectives by listening to customers and focusing exclusively on the GRP domain.”

FreeBalance uniquely supports PFM reforms in emerging and post-conflict countries. According to the report, “strengthening PFM in fragile states is possible and can progress quite quickly. Achievements in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone have been relatively rapid and substantial. These cases show that reform progress can be made under difficult circumstances—including high levels of continuing insecurity (Afghanistan), absence of any prehistory of independent statehood (Kosovo), and acute levels of underdevelopment (Sierra Leone).” 

FreeBalance has successfully assisted governments to implement modern PFM systems in challenging circumstances. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite has been implemented in emerging nation governments where there has been limited connectivity, low bandwidth, lack of electrical power, and low human capacity. FreeBalance has developed a methodology to improve implementation success that includes project governance, change management and progressive activation of system features.

FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 offers a pure web-based platform that has been optimized for rapid government deployment, operational effectiveness. It is ideal for the needs and requirements of emerging and post-conflict governments. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite covers the entire budget cycle including financial and human resources transparency to improve governance and trust. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is distinguished by strong and flexible budget control. Recent innovations from FreeBalance include Transparency and Procurement portals to improve government accountability. 

FreeBalance is active in 19 countries, including Antigua & Barbuda, Afghanistan, Panama, Canada, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, Timor-Leste, and Uganda among others. FreeBalance software manages more than a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide. More than 70,000 users around the world use FreeBalance software to manage a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com. 

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Thirteen FreeBalance Offices Around the World to Participate in Literacy Event

Ottawa, Canada (March 7, 2011) – FreeBalance, a Government Resource Planning (GRP) software For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE), will be participating in World Read Aloud Day on March 9, 2011. World Read Aloud Day is an international event organized by LitWorld that motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words and stories. This event advocates the right for every child for literacy, safe education, and access to books and technology.

LitWorld will host a 24-hour Read-Aloud Marathon in Times Square on March 9, supported by the New York Daily News. Special guest readers at the event will include the Chancellor of Schools, Cathie Black, Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development, Dennis M. Walcott, and many renowned authors and performers, including C. Alexander London, Adam Gidwitz, Jane O’Connor, and Jill Santopolo. A special LitWorld poem will be printed exclusively in the Daily News for New Yorkers to read together and help celebrate the power of the written word.

“Literacy is the human rights issue of our time,” said Pam Allyn, Executive Director and Founder of LitWorld. “By learning to read, we all have access to information, the power of shared stories of the human experience, and a way to connect with one another. By raising our voices to express the written word, we come together on behalf of all the world’s people who long to join the world of readers.”

“We believe it is important to actively participate in the local community in a meaningful way,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “World Read Aloud Day allows our offices from around the world to engage with the community. We look forward to March 9 where together we will celebrate the importance of literacy.”

FreeBalance employees will visit local schools, SOS Children’s Villages, orphanages, or community centres in Antigua & Barbuda, Canada, India, Guatemala, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mongolia, Palestine, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Uganda, and the United States. This year The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle will be read. Colouring books and short story booklets will be provided to children by FreeBalance staff members. Text and activities will be translated to the local language to encourage understanding and participation. Children will receive a certificate of achievement.

FreeBalance customers span the globe and the user community includes public financial management professionals in 18 countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Panama, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, Timor-Leste, and Uganda among others. FreeBalance operates in 15 customer time zones. FreeBalance has more than 60,000 users around the world. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000, and also manages a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide.

About LitWorld
LitWorld is a 501C3 nonprofit organization led by Founder and Executive Director Pam Allyn. LitWorld’s mission is to cultivate literacy leaders worldwide through transformational literacy experiences that build connection, understanding, resilience and strength. Founded on the three pillars of access, advocacy, and education, LitWorld works with teachers, parents, community members, and children to develop sustainable reading and writing practices to engage the world’s most vulnerable communities in the redemptive power of story. For more information, visit www.litworld.org.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

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Doug Hadden, VP Products

 Yet another story about corruption in Africa, this time from The Daily Telegraph [Wikileaks cables: millions in overseas aid to Africa was embezzled]. It’s no wonder, as Owen Barder has pointed out: “many people are worried that aid ends up in the Swiss bank accounts of despots and dictators, or of corrupt consulting and construction firms.”

Perhaps Wikileaks has not exposed the millions in overseas aid to Africa that was not embezzled. Or, more importantly, the millions that were wasted because of high transaction costs and lack of coordination among donors and recipient countries.

I’ve written before about the narrative that permiates the Western press: developing countries are corrupt, therefore, deserve to be under-developed. The current story describes corruption in Sierra Leone while the previous blog post was about a Wall Street Journal investigation in Afghanistan. Both stories missed the point.

Direct Budgetary Support and Corruption

The Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action are designed to improve development outcomes. One of the commitments by donors or International Financial Institutions (IFIs) is to use “country systems“. This means that the majority of donor funding should be funnelled through the country Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS). (Yes, the IFMIS is FreeBalance in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan). As Richard Allen has pointed out, many donors are concerned that the IFMIS could be used for corrupt purposes. Yes, as Steven Symansky pointed out, the financial system in Afghanistan has eliminated the opportunity for corruption. That’s because transactions are auditable. There are automated controls. Electronic funds transfer and secure cheque printing can be used to eliminate cash.

This story is more evidence that large-scale corruption occurs outside the financial system.

Direct Budgetary Support and Effectiveness

Corruption reduces the funds available for development. Lack of coordination and administrative costs also reduce aid effectiveness.

Administrative or transaction costs are introduced when there are many donors supporting many projects. Donors require accountability. So, government agencies receiving “off-budget” funds or organizations executing projects outside of the government need to generate frequent reports. In different formats. On different fiscal periods. This decreases the funds available for development.

Multiple donor projects reduces efficiency. Governments cannot effectively plan and coordinate budgets with donors when the information is not available. Countries end up with 2 schools where only 1 is needed. Or a bridge without a road. Or schools without teachers. Donors can often work at cross-puposes.

What the Media Needs to Do

Billions of dollars flying out of Afghanistan. Government ministers buying plasma televisions. Swiss bank accounts. It all makes for sensational headlines.

Where are the stories about what works? Where are the stories on the International Aid Transparency Initiative? [Google News results = 0] Aid effectiveness? [Google News results = 42]. No problem finding stories on corruption in Afghanistan [Google News results = about 2000]. corruption in Africa [Google News results = about 4061].

What about successes to date? For example how Afghanistan, Liberia and Mongolia have improved budget transparency. The media needs to benchmark corruption and development – not with developed countries of today – with developed countries when at the same stage of development. Such as comparing corruption, legal systems, regulations, development in Russia today with the United States in the 1920s.

The FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC) conference begins on Monday in Madeira Portugal. The FISC meets annually and through conference calls each quarter. The FISC is an important part of the global FreeBalance community. FreeBalance customers span the globe and the user community includes public financial management professionals in 18 countries.

Attendees for FISC 2011 include international delegates from Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mongolia, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Uganda. Delegations began arriving today.  Fortunately the rain from Friday and Saturday has disappeared. Everyone is looking forward to another productive conference. As in past years, the longest flight was  from Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. The delegation left Friday local time and arrived at the hotel at 7 pm Sunday in Madeira. 

As we have mentioned before, the steering committee approach is much different from a user group. The steering committee is a different approach. It’s all about the government customers. FISC is an opportunity for public financial managers to share lessons learned. To discuss emerging trends. And, to set company direction.

That’s right – FISC is where customers tell us what they want and when they want it and whether they will upgrade or not. We think that this is necessary for a customer-centric approach. And making solutions sustainable and adaptable to reform and modernization.

How is this different?

• Customers set the product roadmap. We propose a product roadmap for the next 2 years. Customers adapt priorities and schedules. They add new features. (We leverage the 6 Thinking Hats linear thinking approach here.)
• Knowledge transfer sessions with public financial management domain (not technology) speakers and panels. Our goal is to learn because it provides context for the next wave of PFM reform. (It’s also part of our mission to share knowledge across the greater PFM community, so we are live tweeting and blogging).
• No salespeople. That’s right, there’s no selling.
• We put customers to work through presentations, panel discussions and workshops.
• Conference adapted to main customer concerns found through a comprehensive survey.
• Participation of FreeBalance key product executives giving customers direct influence on company direction.

FISC Agenda

Keynote

• PFM Reform and Donor Funding in Post-Conflict Countries: Recommendations Derived from Personal Observations, Steven Symansky

Panels and Customer Presentations

• All customers provide an update on implementation, achievements, challenges and next steps
• Budget and Performance Management Panel
• Capacity Building Panel
• Civil Service Reform Panel

Company and Product Updates

• FreeBalance 2010 Company Update
• FreeBalance Reporting
• FreeBalance software for capacity building
• FreeBalance Technology update
• FreeBalance Workflow

Roadmap and Vision

• Customer Case Studies and Survey Results
• Knowledge Management
• Solutions for Government Performance and Transparency
• Accelerating E-Government Development
• Detailed Product Roadmap
• Roadmap Discussions and Voting

Of course, a Chair for 2011 will be selected by delegates. The city for 2012 FISC will also be selected.

About FISC

The annual FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC) conference runs from January 16 – 19, 2011 in Madeira, Portugal. FISC provides an interactive forum to exchange Public Financial Management (PFM) good practices among international customers and PFM thought leaders. FISC drives the FreeBalance Accountability Suite product vision to direct FreeBalance GRP solutions. Previous FISC events were held in Mt. Tremblant, Canada (2010); Prague, Czech Republic (2009); Cascais, Portugal (2008); and London, United Kingdom (2007).

FreeBalance leverages Web 2.0 tools to provide knowledge transfer to the Public Financial Management (PFM) community 

Ottawa, Canada (January 14, 2011) – FreeBalance, a Government Resource Planning (GRP) software company, today announced that it will be live blogging and tweeting from the FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC) event taking place January 16 – 19, 2011 in Madeira, Portugal. Attendees for FISC 2011 include international delegates from Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mongolia, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Uganda.

“I look forward to opening FISC 2011 as it is an opportunity for public financial managers to share lessons learned,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO at FreeBalance. “Using Web 2.0 tools during FISC allows us to be transparent about good practices in PFM and in vendor-to-customer communications. People will learn about the achievements that FreeBalance customers have made in PFM regardless of whether FreeBalance assisted or not.”

The program and agenda for FISC 2011 provides an effective and interactive venue in support of shared PFM goals and objectives. The sessions and workshops provide FreeBalance with an opportunity to update international customers on product, technology, and corporate developments from 2010.

Presentations at FISC 2011 include PFM Reform & Donor Funding in Post-Conflict Countries, FreeBalance Software & Capacity Building, Solutions for Government Performance & Transparency, and Accelerating E-Government Development & Public Sector Transparency. Customer presentations and panels will discuss Government Budgeting & Performance, Capacity Building, and Civil Service Reform.

To follow FreeBalance during FISC 2011, visit:

• Twitter at www.twitter.com/freebalance (hash tag #FISC2011)
• Blog at www.freebalance.com/blog

The FISC meets annually and through conference calls each quarter. The FISC is an important part of the global FreeBalance community. FreeBalance customers span the globe and the user community includes public financial management professionals in 18 countries. FreeBalance operates in 15 customer time zones. FreeBalance has more than 60,000 users around the world. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000. FISC helps ensure that customers are informed and aligned with the FreeBalance vision for Government Resource Planning (GRP).  

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

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