Helping governments strengthen public financial management systems around the world
Government finance professionals have endured much in recent years. The global financial crisis sent shockwaves through their profession, forcing them center stage as governments sought to first stimulate their economies and then, in many cases, implement sweeping deficit reduction proposals under fierce public, political and media scrutiny. Today, the global economy may have turned a corner, but this spotlight has not faded.
Partly, this is due to the economic reality. As sluggish economic growth continues to grip many countries, lower than- expected tax revenues have left governments looking elsewhere for financial resources. Demographic changes, too, have played a key role. As populations grow and people live longer lives, policymakers face ever-growing demands for services. This means that the capacities of welfare, health care and infrastructure must grow and change to cope with the public’s evolving and increasing needs, lacing further pressure on government balance sheets.
As a result, public financial management has emerged as a key and permanent priority of any government. The application of clear and consistent policies, controls and procedures is now recognized as crucial to ensuring wiser spending and the efficient deployment of resources. This is hardly straightforward. Ours is now a world of deeply interconnected global economies, one shaped by different patterns of labor markets, capital flows and consumer markets, all of which are globalizing faster and deeper than ever before.
In these times of profound change, where governments are rethinking how they do business, finance professionals need to be highly flexible. They need to be able to adapt much quicker to new directions from government, but also to new demands from citizens and new issues that may not have been previously foreseen.
Greater public accountability for their actions is also inevitable in the context of more sources of information than ever before. The same networks and technologies that are transforming society at large will need to be used to transform governments, changing the way they work and engage with citizens.
Similarly, finance professionals need to bring a global mindset: strengthen the public’s ability to assure public accountability, to measure performance accordingly, and to support public reforms. This approach will enable government finance professionals — and public sector leaders as a whole — to look beyond electoral cycles, national borders and outmoded organizational boundaries.
Seeking to maximize the financial efficiency and effectiveness of their services and operations is an ambition of governments the world over.
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