Public Financial Management and Budget Execution Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Public Finance Managers, Budget Officers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PFM-002

Before you join: Participants should have practical exposure to government, municipal, donor-funded or state-owned entity budgeting, accounting, treasury, procurement or financial reporting.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Public bodies can have approved budgets yet fail to turn them into funded services. Weak forecasts, late releases, uncontrolled commitments, fragmented bank balances and incomplete records can produce arrears, unspent funds, audit findings and reduced public confidence. Finance teams must apply legal appropriations while giving programme managers timely information on what can be committed, paid and reallocated. This course addresses the operating disciplines that connect fiscal policy, budget authority, treasury operations, procurement, accounting and reporting.

Participants examine the public financial management cycle from budget preparation through execution, financial reporting and audit follow-up. They learn to interpret appropriations, establish allotments and commitment controls, prepare cash forecasts, manage a Treasury Single Account, monitor arrears and reconcile budget, accounting and Government Finance Statistics data. The course also addresses programme budgeting, performance information, internal controls, procurement links, fiscal risks and corrective action tracking. Participants gain methods for diagnosing execution problems and translating findings into practical reforms.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with public-sector cases, group analysis, financial control simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect common issues in ministries, municipalities, regulatory bodies and state-funded service agencies, including delayed releases, supplier arrears, weak payment controls and adverse audit findings. Participants leave with a reusable budget execution toolkit containing working templates, control checklists, reporting models and a 90-day improvement plan. The course is delivered over five instructor-led days in classroom locations or live online, with a certificate of completion issued to participants who complete the course.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess public financial management arrangements using selected PEFA dimensions
  • Construct a medium-term expenditure framework with credible expenditure ceilings
  • Apply appropriation, allotment and virement controls to budget execution decisions
  • Prepare a 13-week rolling cash forecast from operational financial data
  • Design commitment controls and arrears monitoring procedures
  • Produce in-year budget execution reports with variance and forecast analysis
  • Evaluate internal controls using the COSO Internal Control Framework
  • Develop a prioritised 90-day public financial management improvement plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible decisions on commitments, payment priorities and budget reallocations
  • Prepare cash forecasts that identify funding gaps before payments fall due
  • Interpret audit findings and convert them into assigned corrective actions
  • Produce clearer execution reports for senior management and oversight bodies
  • Build a practical reform plan for a current finance control issue

For your organisation

  • Reduced expenditure arrears through earlier commitment and cash control
  • More reliable budget execution information for management decisions
  • Stronger compliance with appropriations, delegated authorities and payment procedures
  • Improved audit readiness through reconciliations, evidence and action tracking
  • Better alignment between budget releases, procurement plans and service delivery priorities

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map the public financial management cycle and identify accountability responsibilities.

  • Public expenditure cycle from policy approval to external audit
  • Roles of legislature, finance ministry, treasury, spending units and auditors
  • PEFA framework dimensions for assessing budget reliability and transparency
  • Fiscal discipline, allocative efficiency and service-delivery effectiveness trade-offs
  • Accountability chains linking appropriations, managers, accounting officers and citizens
  • Mapping legal authorities, delegated powers and reporting obligations

Participants can build credible expenditure plans linked to policy priorities and fiscal limits.

  • Medium-Term Expenditure Framework ceilings linked to macro-fiscal forecasts
  • Baseline estimates separated from policy proposals and one-off costs
  • Top-down ceilings reconciled with bottom-up ministry budget submissions
  • Programme budgeting structures connecting objectives, outputs, indicators and costs
  • Costing policy proposals using unit costs, assumptions and sensitivity ranges
  • Budget calendar milestones, circulars and bilateral challenge meetings

Participants can apply appropriation controls and classify spending consistently.

  • Appropriation acts interpreted by vote, programme, economic and administrative classifications
  • Chart of accounts segments aligned with Government Finance Statistics
  • Virement rules, supplementary budgets and contingency appropriations controlled
  • Allotment schedules converting annual appropriations into authorised spending limits
  • Commitment ceilings matched to cash plans and procurement schedules
  • Delegation matrices documenting approval thresholds and segregation duties

Participants can monitor revenue, commitments and arrears before they create fiscal pressure.

  • Revenue forecasting methods using tax bases, collection trends and compliance assumptions
  • Monthly collection plans reconciled to macroeconomic and administrative drivers
  • Commitment control registers recording purchase orders, contracts and obligations
  • Three-way matching of purchase orders, goods receipts and invoices
  • Arrears definitions, ageing analysis and clearance-plan prioritisation
  • Contingent liabilities recorded from guarantees, litigation and public-private partnerships

Participants can manage government cash using forecasts, payment priorities and reconciliations.

  • Treasury Single Account principles for consolidating government cash balances
  • 13-week rolling cash forecast built from receipts, payroll and supplier data
  • Cash rationing decisions based on priority payments and available liquidity
  • Daily bank reconciliation procedures identifying timing differences and irregular items
  • Short-term borrowing choices assessed against cost, maturity and refinancing risk
  • Payment scheduling aligned with commitment data and release calendars

Participants can design controls that protect budget authority through procurement and payment.

  • COSO internal control framework: control environment, risk assessment, activities, information, monitoring
  • Segregation of duties across requisitioning, approval, receipt, payment and reconciliation
  • Procurement plan links to budget releases, cash forecasts and contract milestones
  • Competitive tender documentation specifying evaluation criteria, records and conflict declarations
  • Exception reporting flags duplicate payments, split purchases and approval breaches
  • Fraud risk registers assign controls, owners, indicators and response actions

Participants can prepare reliable execution reports from reconciled accounting and budget data.

  • Modified cash, cash and accrual accounting bases distinguished
  • IPSAS concepts applied to recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosures
  • Month-end closure timetable coordinates ledgers, reconciliations, adjustments and reviews
  • Government Finance Statistics classification reconciled with budget and accounting data
  • In-year budget execution reports explain variances, commitments and forecast outturns
  • Year-end financial statements supported by schedules and audit evidence

Participants can connect budget execution results to service-delivery performance and corrective action.

  • Performance indicators defined with baselines, targets, data sources and owners
  • Logic models connect inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and assumptions
  • Variance analysis distinguishes price, volume, timing and policy effects
  • Quarterly budget reviews combine financial results with service-delivery evidence
  • Dashboard design prioritises material variances, decisions and accountability
  • Corrective action logs track decisions, deadlines, responsible officers and status

Participants can respond to audit findings and report material fiscal risks transparently.

  • Internal audit plans prioritise high-risk systems, transactions and control weaknesses
  • Audit trails preserve evidence from budget authority through final payment
  • External audit findings translated into management responses and due dates
  • Fiscal risk statements cover state-owned enterprises, guarantees and public-private partnerships
  • Citizen budget disclosures present approved allocations, execution and results
  • Open budget data controls protect quality, timeliness and confidentiality

Participants can prioritise practical public financial management improvements for implementation.

  • PEFA-style diagnostic findings converted into prioritised PFM reform actions
  • Root-cause analysis separates process failures, capability gaps and system constraints
  • Reform roadmaps sequence quick wins, dependencies, owners and milestones
  • Change impact assessments identify affected roles, rules, data and controls
  • Implementation scorecards monitor deliverables, risks, decisions and escalation points
  • Personal application plans define 90-day budget execution improvements

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Medium-term expenditure framework template
  2. 13-week rolling cash forecast model
  3. Commitment control register
  4. Budget execution variance report template
  5. COSO-based financial control checklist
  6. 90-day PFM improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Public Finance Managers — need stronger control over releases, commitments and expenditure
  • Budget Officers — prepare ceilings, submissions, allotments and execution reports
  • Treasury Officers — manage cash positions, payment schedules and bank reconciliations
  • Accountants and Financial Controllers — reconcile budget, accounting and financial reporting data
  • Programme Managers — need to manage delivery within approved budgets and cash limits
  • Internal Auditors — assess budget controls, payment processes and corrective actions

Skills and tools covered

Budget execution controlCash flow forecastingCommitment managementFinancial reportingInternal control designPFM reform planning

Tools and standards

PEFA Framework, Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, International Public Sector Accounting Standards, COSO Internal Control Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish methods and standards, followed by public-sector cases, facilitated group work and financial control simulations. Participants interpret appropriation data, review cash forecasts, diagnose arrears, analyse execution variances and assess control failures. Facilitated discussion compares approaches used by central finance agencies, ministries and service-delivery entities. Each participant applies course methods to a current work issue and prepares a focused 90-day action plan using supplied templates.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical exposure to government, municipal, donor-funded or state-owned entity budgeting, accounting, treasury, procurement or financial reporting. They should understand basic public-sector revenue and expenditure terms, including budgets, payments, commitments and financial statements. Experience using a finance system or spreadsheet is helpful because several course examples use transaction and forecast data. The course does not require an accounting qualification, prior PEFA assessment experience, advanced economics, statistical modelling or prior knowledge of IPSAS. It is suitable for professionals moving into broader public financial management responsibilities.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

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

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand basic budgeting, expenditure, payment and financial reporting terms. Prior work in public finance, accounting, treasury, procurement or programme management is useful, but an accounting qualification is not required.

Participants should bring a laptop for live online delivery and are encouraged to bring a non-confidential budget execution issue from their workplace. Course templates and case materials are provided.

The course suits finance managers, budget officers, treasury staff, accountants, financial controllers, programme managers and internal auditors in public bodies. It is also relevant to staff managing donor-funded public programmes or state-owned entities.

This course focuses on the connections between budget authority, cash, commitments, payments, reporting and accountability. It addresses accounting and procurement where they affect budget execution, rather than teaching either discipline as a specialist subject.

Participants can use the forecast, commitment register, variance report and control checklist to address immediate execution issues. The final application plan identifies actions, owners, milestones and evidence of progress for the following 90 days.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group work, simulations, discussion and individual application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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