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News
News, Monday, September 27, 2010 12:12
Dear PEM PAL members,
     We would like to bring to your attention a book PIFC - Public Internal Financial Control by Robert de Koning, a manual concernig the European Comission's initiative to build new structures of public internal control in applicant and third-party countries. The book is aimed at anyone who seeks a reference work to carry forward the concept of public internal control at national or international level.This publication is not only a useful source of information, but also offers great practical advice for improving Public Internal ƒinancial Control (PIƒC).
You are welcome to download Bosnian, Romanian and Russian translations of the book by clicking here.
PEM PAL Secretariat
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Budget Announcements, Tuesday, September 21, 2010 15:38
Between September 21 - 22, 2010 the annual meeting of budget community of practice will be held in Budva, Montenegro.
OBJECTIVES AND TOPICS
AGENDA
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News, Wednesday, August 18, 2010 09:02
PEM PAL Community Facilitator (in Slovenia)
ECA Mission, Principles and Vision
To meet demands in a rapidly changing Region, the World Bank partners with governments and other stakeholders to:
• Promote growth and create jobs
• Encourage social inclusion and fight poverty
• Foster good governance, and
• Address global needs
The ECA Region offers customized knowledge and innovative financial products to address these challenges in a timely manner.
Our Guiding Principles
• Client centered
• Working in partnership
• Accountable for quality results
• Dedicated to financial integrity and cost-effectiveness
• Inspired and innovative
Our Core Values
• Personal honesty, integrity, commitment
• Working together in teams - with openness and trust
• Empowering others and respecting differences
• Encouraging risk-taking and responsibility
• Enjoying our work and our families
Program Context
PEM PAL (Public Expenditure Management Peer Assisted Learning) is a program to create networks of practitioners in public finance in Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Central Asian Region (ECA countries). The network at present includes members from 17 countries of the region and puts an emphasis on involving the member countries with less developed institutional systems.
The purpose of the networks is to share experience on reform implementation in key areas of public financial management through the so called Communities of Practice (CoPs). PEM PAL network is currently organised around three thematic communities of practice, including Treasury CoP, Budget CoP and Internal Audit CoP.
Benchmarking is used to stimulate peer to peer exchanges; whereas the Public Expenditure & Financial Accountability indicators (PEFA) provide the general benchmarking tool and more drill-down specific tools are used for the functional areas covered by the Communities of Practice.
The PEMPAL program was conceptualized by the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and is supported by other development partners, including Switzerland, US treasury, GTZ, InWent and the OECD. The basic logistical support for the organization of events and information flow through the website is ensured by the Center of Excellence in Finance (Lijubljana, Slovenija) in its role as a PEM PAL Secretariat along the lines described in the Rules of Operation of the initiative. More details about the program can be found at PEM PAL web site (www.pempal.org).
Duties and Accountabilities
The PEM PAL community facilitator, working in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is expected to provide the following support across all three CoPs:
• Support for the learning agenda of the community
1. Assist CoPs to develop and maintain a learning agenda, including: identify issues of interest for learning agenda and ensure distribution of knowledge information, keep abreast of developments in the respective professional fields and inform members accordingly; manage and update agenda based on feedback.
2. Connect the community to their respective international field of expertise including: (i) relate the CoP to professional associations, (ii) ensure involvement of and support from international institutions, (iii) search for and engaging best practitioners to accommodate members’ requests.
3. Ensure access to relevant standards as well as other documents of professional interest for the COP. Facilitate sharing of relevant documentation and other types of professional information between the members through the web based databank.
4. Facilitate knowledge sharing on experiences in application of relevant benchmarking tools by members and facilitate the application of such tools.
5. Develop a database of success stories on specific aspects of CoP development, including documenting ‘what works’ in terms of network development and strengthening.
• Support to the leadership teams (executive committee) and sub-groups
1. Help leadership teams to identify vision and strategy for development of CoPs.
2. Help leadership teams prepare annual work programs and budgets.
3. Help with preparing and facilitating leadership team meetings and virtual discussions.
4. Support to CoP work groups including: comments on work, identification of resource people and synergies with existing initiatives; act as broker between group members and other interested parties as needed.
5. Help leadership teams to foster informal and formal communication among members through various means.
6. Help with preparation of materials to be posted at CoP web page.
7. Help the leadership teams to strengthen consistency of membership in member countries and play an advocacy role in enlarging and deepening memberships.
• Support in elaborating strategies to attract funding for the PEMPAL network
Facilitator is also expected to contribute to preparation of the strategies by the PEM PAL Secretariat and Steering Committee to attract new donors or private sponsors to support PEM PAL activities with a view to gain a certain degree of self-sufficiency of the PEM PAL program in the medium term.
Selection Criteria
The expert should have the following qualifications and skills:
• Master’s degree or equivalent in a relevant area (economics, accounting, finance, public administration, etc.)
• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience, including experience within a ministry or public organization either as a public official/employee or external advisor/consultant in one of the following fields: public finance policy formulation; budget oversight; budget execution process and reporting; financial management and control; public sector audit.
• Substantive experience as an international consultant /advisor in a developing economy or country in transition.
• Familiarity with PEFA indicators is desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to deal with high level government counterparts.
• Strong communication skills, experience in facilitating group discussions and ability to use web based tools and video conferencing for group communication.
• Fluency in English. Ability to communicate in Russian is highly desirable. Knowledge of other languages of South East Europe is desirable.
Personal characteristics
Ideally, this person should be a current practitioner or a past practitioner in the domain of public financial management with a degree of familiarity with topics addressed by the different CoPs. This person should ideally have a deep understanding of the reform challenges faced by members and cultural sensitivity to deal with members from countries with different cultural and linguistic background.
The ideal candidate will:
• Have a passion for the PFM domain and its importance.
• Be credible in the domain.
• Be acceptable by the community professionally and personally.
• Have a vision for improved practices, innovation, and direction for the domain.
• Be reasonably good at dealing with people.
• Have a working understanding of communities of practice.
• See the community and its cultivation as a personal learning opportunity.
Estimated time requirement
The initial duration of the assignment is 12 months, with a possibility of extension till June 30, 2012, subject to satisfactory performance. The Community Facilitator will work as a full-time expert at the PEMPAL Secretariat which is located at the Center of Excellence in Finance, having its permanent premises at Cankarjeva 18, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
More information about the advertisment can be obtained on the World Bank external site (Vacancy Number 101735):
http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64778834&pagePK=64273550&piPK=64778828&theSitePK=1058433
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News, Thursday, June 24, 2010 09:18
On June 14, 2010 all three COP Executive Committee members of PEM PAL network held a joint meeting which took place in hotel Lovec, Bled.
Two of three Leadership Groups were represented, namely Treasury (T CoP) and Internal Audit (IA CoP) with the World Bank and CEF staff.
Objectives of the meeting were preparation for the Steering Committee meeting and Joint COP discussion for preparation on the plenary meeting.
PEM PAL Task Team Leader Elena Nikulina briefly presented the main elements of the FY 2011-12 program document, which -- supported by the financial plan with available budget for the next 24 months – provides strategic planning of the activities, taking into account the recommendations of the 2009 Mokoro Evaluation Report.
As to plenary meeting, there was no decision taken on the format of the event, the joint topic or the venue. The Organization committee will vote on all open issues.
On June 15, 2010 members of the COPs Executive Committee joint Steering Committee representatives on face to face meeting which took place at the CEF. B COP and InWEnt joined by VC.
The discussion was on updating and approving of the Work Plans and Budgets, on strategic planning for the next 24 months and on discussing open issues for the next plenary meeting in January 2011.
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News, Tuesday, May 25, 2010 13:30
Between May 18-20, 2010 members of the PEM PAL
Treasury
Community of Practice met in Chisinau where they exchanged the most
recent
experiences in applying information technologies for treasury
operations.
 The workshop, hosted by the
Ministry of Finance of the
Republic of Moldova, was successfully completed and was a rewarding
experience
for everyone involved. All and all participants were satisfied with the
workshop and their expectations were met.
Even though most agreed the duration of the workshop was about
right,
some thought the workshop was too short and would need additional day to
cover
all the important topics in greater detail.
The first day of the workshop
was devoted to the overview of
the recent member countries experiences of implementation of Financial
Management Information Systems (FMIS). Experiences of FMIS
implementation in
Slovakia and Turkey were also presented.
The second day of the
workshop focused on the discussion of
the issues related to the use of electronic payment systems and digital
signature application in treasury operations. Results of thematic member
survey
were presented at the beginning of the day and set the stage for planary
discussion. Moldova’s and Korean experience in using electronic payments
in
treasury operations, including the experience of introduction of digital
signature, were the main case studies for that day.
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News, Friday, December 11, 2009 13:40
PEMPAL is looking for a dynamic individual to play a role of a Community Facilitator for PEMPAL COPs.
For more information read the attachment bellow:
PEMPAL Community Facilitator.pdf
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Internal Audit Announcements, Thursday, June 18, 2009 13:26
The Consultancy on Regional Internal Audit Training and Certification report provides a detailed opinion in regard to the assumptions, potential risks and recommendations of the proposals of the training and certification programs (T&CP) provided by professional
associations including:
- a detailed overview of their advantages and disadvantages against a defined set of criteria in regard to the situation and needs of internal audit in the region;
- an understanding of how the respective T&CP that are proposed fit into the wider context of building up a professional internal audit function in the region of which the T&C is only one necessary part;
- the financial implications of the proposals in a medium-term (3 years) for governments as well as the need of external financing;
- a clear information on the time frame.
Report on Regional Internal Audit Training and Certification
Prepared by Frédéric Chetcuti
Commissioned by InWEnt under the PEMPAL program
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Budget Announcements, Wednesday, May 27, 2009 11:02
The PEFA Work Group held its fourth Video Conference (VC) meeting on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. In addition to Georgia, countries that participated in the meeting were Kosovo, Montenegro, and Moldova.
The focus of the meeting was to finalize the work group report. The report was developed using the survey results, the case studies, information provided by the PEFA Secretariat, and information from the deliberations during the prior meetings of the work group.
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News, Tuesday, March 17, 2009 09:54
Friday, February 20, 2009
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Meeting Summary
The PEFA Work Group (WG) held its third video conference (VC) meeting on February 20, 2009. The meeting was video cast from the Center for Excellence in Finance in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Representatives from the following countries participated in the VC:
- Georgia
- Belarus
- Moldova
- Armenia
- Montenegro
- Kyrgyzstan
- Ukraine
- Tajikistan
Members of the Budget Community of Practice (BCOP) Steering Committee also participated in the VC including Ms. Nina Lupan, Mr. Nicola Vukicevic, and Mr. Papuna Petriashvili as well as Mr. Richard Bartholomew the Head of the PEMPAL Secretariat. Also participating in the meeting from the World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC was Mr. Frans Ronsholt, Head of the PEFA Secretariat.
Ms. Liana Skhirtladze, Chair of the Work Group opened by welcoming the participants and reviewing the meeting agenda. The prior minutes were reviewed with no comment or suggested changes from the participants.
PEFA SECRETARIAT PRESENTATION
The WG was very fortunate and honored to have Mr. Ronsholt, Head of the PEFA Secretariat, participating in the VC. Mr. Ronsholt gave a presentation entitled “Recent Developments of the PEFA Program.” A copy of the full presentation is attached. Some highlights included the following:
- To date more than 100 PEFA assessments have been completed with baseline report completed for 90 countries.
- The intended use of PEFA reports is to track performance on changes over time; prioritization of reforms; and peer learning.
- Similarly Countries have and/or can use the PEFA framework to inform on needed PFM reforms; monitoring the results of reform efforts; a comparing to and learning from peers.
- PEFA is preparing a report on the use of PEFA reports in reform formulation which will include country case studies. The Secretariat welcomes and volunteers for the case studies.
- Case studies were presented on both Mozambique and the Norway. Mozambique completed its baseline assessment in 2005, a repeat assessment in 2007, and will do a planned follow-up in 2010. Improvements between 2005-2007 were made in revenue administration, cash management, and internal controls. Norway completed its assessment in December of 2007.
- It was noted that although the PEFA Framework was primarily developed for in-country use there appeared to be wide interest amongst researchers, donors, and governments to do comparisons amongst countries.
- A Monitoring Report will be completed in mid-2009 which will provide trends in the use of the framework and an assessment of quality as well as provide input for the technical maintenance of the framework.
In responding to questions, Mr. Ronsholt noted the following:
- It is an individual country’s decision as to whether or not the PEFA Assessment is made public and/or posted on the PEFA Website.
- To prepare for a PEFA Assessment a country should form and train a team of its officials. The officials should be stakeholders in the project.
- Country teams should do as much of the assessment themselves as possible.
- An assessment, whether done internally or independently will have greater successes if it has strong governmental leadership.
Moldova Case Study
Ms. Liuba Ivanciucova (Ministry of Finance of Moldova) provided an excellent presentation on Moldova’s experience in completing the PEFA Assessment. The first assessment was conducted in 2006 with the second completed in 2008. Both assessments were coordinated by the Ministry of Finance. Having completed two assessments Moldova was able to evaluate progress in making reforms. Overall, ten indicators experienced an improved score while two received lower scores.
Moldova noted the following advantages of PEFA:
- It provides complex background information
- Identifies issues that need to be addressed by the government
- Tracks progress on reforms
- Forms the bases for recommendations for maintaining and improving scores.
Disadvantages of PEFA that were noted included the following:
- Some of the scoring methodologies are incomprehensible, with PI 3 and 25 noted as examples;
- Countries with IMF programs may be at a disadvantage because estimates must be more conservative.
- There is little flexibility in scoring when there is disagreement about improvements.
- Although indicators D1-D3 are for donors they still affect the country’s image.
The main achievements in Moldova were as follows:
- Budget formulation was improved though revisions to the budget calendar and more consistency between the budget and the Medium term plan.
- Internal auditing
- Chart of accounts and budget classifications
- Single Treasury Account.
- Improved treasury operations.
PEFA Surveys
At the time of the meeting it was reported that only three completed surveys had been received. (However four additional surveys were received during the meeting). A summary of the survey results will be distributed shortly.
Next Steps
Ms. Skhirtladze closed the meeting by identifying the following as next steps:
Completion of case studies
- Circulation of a proposed outline for the WG report
- Circulation of survey results to the WG for comments.
- Drafting of the WG report
The next Work Group meeting will focus on finalizing the report.
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Budget Announcements, Monday, March 09, 2009 09:29
The BCOP Executive Committee (EC) met in Ljubljana, Slovenia from February 19 to 21, 2009.
Highlights of the meeting include:
- A revised BCOP Action Plan for 2009. Please note the upcoming events, especially the OECD SBO meeting in St. Petersburg from June 25 to 26. This will be the best opportunity for BCOP members to see and talk with each other during 2009. Senior Budget Officers will soon be invited to come to this event. Please be sure to attend.
- Valentyna Doletska from Ukraine was elected 3rd Vice Chair. Samat Kiljiev became 2nd Vice Chair. Maksim Ermolovich is 1st Vice Chair. Papuna Petriashvili became the Chair for 2009.
- The Rules of BCOP were changed to allow all previous Chairs to remain on the Executive Committee. Also, each ministry is requested to appoint a representative to the Executive Committee if your ministry is not already represented. This means that Uzbekistan, Armenia, Bosnia, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo are invited to appoint new representatives to the Executive Committee. Rano Zabirova from Tajikistan was the first person to join the EC under this new rule.
- The EC joined in a video conference and other activities with BCOP's PEFA Working Group (PWG), which has been exploring this topic for several months. Separate reports are available on the web pages about the PWG.
- Excellent presentations were given in Russian on the experiences of Armenia's program budget efforts (by Suren Pohgosyan and Mark Worledge); and Moldova's experiences with MTEF (by Natalia Sclearuc). The presentations were followed by additional member discussions.
- The EC set aside travel money for ministry staff to attend the CEF training seminar on MTEF in April. This seminar will be delivered in English only. The allocation will only pay for the first 4 or 5 persons to travel to Ljubljana. Ministries should consider sending staff at ministry expense.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Sofia, Bulgaria, April 17 - 20, 2012
IA CoP will work in Sofia, Bulgaria
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Bohinj, Slovenia, March 27-29, 2012
Program Budgeting
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Tbilisi, Georgia, February 27-29, 2012
TCoP Workshop: PFM Reform Progress in Treasury and External Financing
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Ljubljana, February 16-17, 2012
SC Meeting
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