PEFA Framework Assessment for Public Financial Management Training Course

Course overview

Public financial management reforms often stall because diagnostic findings are too broad, evidence is inconsistent, or assessment teams cannot clearly distinguish a weak process from a weak control. The PEFA framework gives governments, development partners and oversight bodies a common basis for examining budget reliability, fiscal transparency, asset and liability management, policy-based budgeting, revenue administration, accounting, reporting, audit and external scrutiny. This course equips participants to conduct and use PEFA assessments with defensible evidence rather than treating the framework as a scoring checklist.

Participants work through the PEFA 2016 framework, its 31 performance indicators, dimensions, scoring methods and reporting requirements. They learn how to define an assessment scope, develop a terms of reference, build an evidence matrix, test evidence against indicator requirements, apply M1 and M2 aggregation methods, write indicator narratives, manage quality assurance, and convert findings into realistic PFM reform priorities. Attention is given to recurring judgement areas such as budget credibility, expenditure arrears, procurement data, fiscal risk, internal controls and audit follow-up.

Teaching combines instructor-led explanation with a structured country case, sample budget documents, audit reports, financial statements, procurement records and reform plans. Participants score selected indicators, challenge evidence in peer-review panels, and practise writing findings that separate facts, scores, causes and implications. Each participant leaves with a PEFA assessment workplan, evidence-request list, scored indicator workbook and an outline findings report that can be adapted for an upcoming assessment or PFM reform review.

The course is suited to public finance professionals, development-finance advisers and assurance specialists who already work with government financial information and need a rigorous method for assessing PFM performance.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Interpret the PEFA 2016 framework, 31 indicators and dimension-level requirements
• Define an assessment scope, governance structure and terms of reference for a PEFA exercise
• Construct an evidence matrix linking source documents to PEFA indicator dimensions
• Apply M1 and M2 scoring methods to calculate defensible indicator scores
• Test budget, accounting, procurement and audit evidence against PEFA performance requirements
• Write evidence-based indicator narratives that distinguish findings, scores, causes and implications
• Conduct peer review and quality assurance checks using the PEFA Fieldguide
• Translate assessment findings into a sequenced PFM reform action plan

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Ministry of Finance Officials — who lead budget, treasury, accounting or fiscal policy functions requiring PFM diagnostics
• PFM Reform Coordinators — who prioritise and monitor government financial management reform actions
• Supreme Audit Institution Staff — who assess control, reporting and accountability arrangements across government
• Development Partner Programme Officers — who commission, review or use PEFA evidence for public finance support
• Public Sector Internal Auditors — who need to relate assurance findings to wider PFM system performance
• Consultants and Technical Advisers — who support PEFA assessments, fiduciary reviews or PFM reform design

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with government budgeting, treasury operations, accounting, procurement, audit or fiscal reporting, gained through at least one year of professional work or equivalent exposure to public-sector finance documents. The course assumes that participants can read a budget execution report, financial statements and audit findings, and can work with spreadsheets at a basic level. Prior experience conducting a PEFA assessment is not required. Participants do not need econometric skills, specialist audit certification, programming knowledge or prior use of Power BI; the course teaches the PEFA scoring and evidence approach from first principles.

Training methodology

The instructor uses short technical briefings to explain each PEFA pillar, then moves participants into a running country assessment case. Working in assessment teams, participants review simulated budget laws, execution reports, debt records, procurement files, annual financial statements and audit reports; populate evidence matrices; and score selected dimensions. Facilitated calibration sessions expose differences in judgement and apply PEFA Fieldguide rules to resolve them. Each day closes with a practical output, culminating in an assessment workplan, draft findings and reform-priority discussion for a participant-selected institutional context.

Course outline

Day 1: PEFA architecture and assessment planning

• Purpose and principles of the PEFA 2016 framework
• Seven PEFA pillars and 31 performance indicators
• Indicator dimensions, calibration and scoring logic
• M1 and M2 aggregation methods
• Assessment scope, period and institutional coverage
• Terms of reference and assessment team roles
• Evidence planning and stakeholder engagement

Workshop: Participants draft a PEFA assessment terms of reference, stakeholder map and initial evidence-request schedule for the case government.

Day 2: Budget reliability and fiscal transparency

• PI-1 to PI-3 aggregate expenditure and revenue outturns
• PI-4 budget classification and performance information
• PI-5 to PI-7 budget documentation and fiscal operations
• PI-8 to PI-9 service delivery and public access to fiscal information
• Extra-budgetary units and fiscal risk evidence
• Budget law, approved estimates and execution report analysis
• Writing narratives for budget credibility findings

Workshop: Using case budget documents and execution data, participants score selected budget reliability dimensions and produce an evidence-backed narrative.

Day 3: Asset, liability, budgeting and revenue systems

• PI-10 fiscal risk reporting by public corporations and subnational governments
• PI-11 to PI-13 public investment, asset management and debt management
• PI-14 to PI-18 macroeconomic forecasting and budget preparation
• PI-19 revenue administration and compliance risk management
• PI-20 revenue accounting and transfer arrangements
• Testing debt registers, investment appraisals and tax administration records
• Scoring evidence gaps and conflicting documentation

Workshop: Teams build an evidence matrix for debt management and revenue administration, then calibrate scores through a peer-review panel.

Day 4: Expenditure control, accounting and reporting

• PI-21 to PI-22 cash management and expenditure arrears
• PI-23 payroll controls and personnel data reconciliation
• PI-24 procurement monitoring and public procurement management
• PI-25 to PI-26 internal controls and internal audit
• PI-27 to PI-29 financial data integrity and reporting
• Using financial statements, bank reconciliations and audit trails as evidence
• Root-cause analysis for control and reporting weaknesses

Workshop: Participants assess a procurement and internal-control case, complete dimension scoring sheets and identify the causes behind weak performance.

Day 5: Audit, scrutiny, quality assurance and reform use

• PI-30 external audit scope, standards and follow-up
• PI-31 legislative scrutiny of audit reports
• PEFA report structure and indicator narrative requirements
• PEFA Fieldguide quality assurance checkpoints
• Evidence traceability and review-file management
• From PEFA findings to prioritised PFM reform actions
• Communicating results to government leaders and development partners

Workshop: Participants present a mini PEFA findings report, defend selected scores, and produce a sequenced reform-priority action plan.

Tools & standards covered

PEFA 2016 Framework, PEFA Fieldguide, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions