Outline of the Presentation
  • Overview
  • Parliamentary Functions and PFM
  • The Budget Process as part of PFM 
  Systems
  • Parliamentary Committees
  • Differing PFM Systems: Implications for 
  Parliamentary Oversight
          Overview
  • Parliament is the institution that enacts the 
   budget, monitors its implementation, and holds 
   the government to account
  • It is through the “power of the purse” that 
   parliaments exert their influence over the 
   collection, allocation, and use of public 
   resources for public purposes
  • Many legislatures are reasserting their role as 
   active players in the budget process 
  Parliamentary Functions and PFM
  • Representative Function
  • Legislative Function
   –Legislative Framework (Budget and Finance Act, 
    Audit Act, Anti-corruption Act, Public Procurement 
    Act, Access to Information Act)
  • Oversight Function
   –Parliamentary Audit Committees
   –Accountability = Answerability + Enforcement
     The Role of Parliament in Financial 
             Oversight
  • An agent of anti-corruption
  • Legislative role
    –Legal frameworks
    –Incentives
  • Oversight role
    –Scrutiny through committees
    –Enhance oversight through anti-corruption commissions, 
    SAIs and the media
  • Financial control role
    –The Budget Cycle
   The Budget Process as part of PFM Systems
  PFM deals with all aspects of resource mobilization 
   and expenditure management in government:
   –Resource mobilization (Revenue/ taxation) 
   –Prioritization of programs (Policy making/ planning) 
   –The Budget Process
   –Efficient management of resources (Budget execution); 
    and 
   –Exercising controls (primarily internal controls, such as 
    government accounting, banking, and fiscal reporting).