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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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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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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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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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Tuesday, November 04, 2008 09:05
 
DRI of Montenegro invites SAIs from the ECA region to a regional seminar
Representatives from SAIs from the ECA region came together from the 22 to 24 October in Pržno, Montenegro for a regional seminar on “Human Resource Management in Supreme Audit Institutions” to discuss the role of human resources in public external audit. Tasked with the external audit of public finances and government performance, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) can only be as good as the quality of the staff they employ. Conscious of this pivotal role played by human resources in public external audit, participants from the SAIs of Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Georgia, Kyrgyz, Moldavia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia exchanged ideas and experiences on staff management and development. Further inputs were given by SAI and Human Resource Management (HRM) experts from the German Federal Court of Audit, the Riksrevisionen of Sweden and the CEF. The seminar was hosted by the Državna Revizorska Institucija (DRI) of Montenegro and organised by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) GmbH.
Auditors, Audit Institutions and the management of change
The seminar focused on three issues in particular. First, the unique and complex qualifications SAIs demand from their Auditors. Instruments for assessing, recruiting and continuously training SAI staff in light of these requirements were presented from SAIs in the Region and from Dr. Lars Friege from the German Federal Court of Audit. Second, the impacts and implications human resources bring for SAIs as organisations. SAIs rely on the performance of their knowledge workers to fulfil their role in the governance of the public sector and the country in general. Putting HRM into its context, Mr. Lage Olofsson from the Riksrevisionen of Sweden outlined a framework linking staff performance to the criteria of a well performing SAI as outlined by the Lima Declaration of 1977, whose principles are shared by SAIs around the world. Third, the contextual requirements for both Auditors and SAIs operating in a complex, changing environment were emphasised by Dr. Igor Šoltes, President from the Court of Audit of Slovenia, and Mrs. Zdenka Vidovič of the CEF in a shared presentation on knowledge management. They urged SAIs to embrace both the fluid nature of their task and the human qualities of their auditors in their day-to-day work. By this, SAIs themselves become agents of change for better financial governance as noted by GTZ senior public governance expert Roland von Frankenhorst in closing of the seminar.
Peer learning to develop capacities of SAIs for Human Resource Management
The complex picture of HRM needs and opportunities of SAIs that was drawn in Pržno served as a basis to explore options for regional exchange, the sharing of expertise and peer learning among the SAIs of the ECA countries. In his opening speech, Mr. Miroslav Ivanisevic, President of the DRI of Montenegro, set the main theme for the seminar by underlining the value of pooling the experience and knowledge from the region through an International Education Centre that would serve the diverse needs of SAIs in training their auditing and management staff. The advantages of combining the methodological and management know-how from different SAIs for a comprehensive, quality education of auditors were laid out in further detailed by the DRI during the seminar. Mr. Nikola Vikićević, head of the Budget CoP, laid out the good experiences by PEMPAL had in the last years in creating options for regional peer learning and benchmarking of performances for on-the-job challenges of experts from different institutions of public finance. Given the complex and specific challenges SAIs face, the open exchange among professional peers from the region offers promising opportunities to improve external audit capacities in the coming years.
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Monday, June 16, 2008 12:42
PEM PAL is organizing the Meeting of the Members of the Executive Committees of the Communities of Practice to be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia from July 1 to July 3, 2008.
The goal of the meeting, which is being sponsored by the PEM PAL, is to discuss goals, ideas, and expectations of the members of the PEM PAL Communities of Practice (CoP), their leaders as well as PEM PAL donors. During the meeting we plan to analyze the needs the CoP leaders have to make their CoPs successful. The meeting in Ljubljana will be the follow-up of the meeting held in Istanbul, Turkey from 24 to 28 February, 2008.
DRAFT AGENDA
 
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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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