Public Sector Governance and Fiscal Sustainability Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Ministry of Finance Managers, Budget Directors and Analysts and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-GPS-091

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience with public budgets, financial reporting, programme management, audit, procurement, policy implementation or related government administration.

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

Weak governance and poor fiscal discipline can turn policy commitments into arrears, unplanned borrowing, stalled projects, audit qualifications and reduced public trust. Public institutions must balance legal compliance, political priorities, service delivery and long-term affordability while operating under revenue volatility, donor conditions, procurement constraints and public scrutiny. Managers need practical ways to connect governance arrangements with budget decisions, financial controls, fiscal risk management and transparent reporting.

This course develops the methods used to govern public resources responsibly and maintain fiscal sustainability. Participants examine accountability structures, public financial management cycles, internal controls, medium-term fiscal frameworks, revenue and expenditure analysis, programme budgeting, cash management, debt sustainability and fiscal risk reporting. They learn to diagnose weaknesses using PEFA dimensions, apply fiscal rules and expenditure ceilings, prepare rolling cash forecasts, assess contingent liabilities, improve procurement oversight and turn audit findings into accountable action plans.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with government budget cases, fiscal shock scenarios, group analysis, control-design work and structured application planning. Cases reflect ministries, municipalities, public agencies, state-owned enterprises and development-funded programmes. Participants leave with a practical public sector governance and fiscal sustainability toolkit, including governance maps, fiscal risk registers, budget-performance models, cash forecasting formats and a reform implementation roadmap that can be adapted to their institution.

The course is suited to professionals responsible for public budgets, financial controls, policy implementation, oversight, audit, procurement or public service reform. It is particularly relevant where institutions need to improve budget credibility, protect essential services during fiscal pressure and demonstrate accountable use of public funds.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess governance arrangements using accountability chains, RACI matrices and delegated authority controls
  • Diagnose public financial management weaknesses using selected PEFA dimensions and control objectives
  • Construct medium-term fiscal projections using baselines, scenarios, fiscal anchors and expenditure ceilings
  • Prepare revenue forecasts and spending review findings using policy-adjusted forecasting methods
  • Design programme budget indicators linking appropriations, outputs, outcomes and accountable owners
  • Produce a 13-week rolling cash forecast and commitment control plan
  • Evaluate debt, guarantees, PPP commitments and other fiscal risks using stress tests
  • Develop a governance and fiscal reform roadmap with milestones, owners and evidence measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Improved ability to challenge unrealistic budget proposals and unfunded policy commitments
  • Practical confidence in presenting fiscal risks to senior officials and oversight bodies
  • Stronger capability to identify control failures before they create arrears or audit findings
  • Reusable methods for linking service targets with budget allocations and delivery costs
  • A credible reform roadmap for improving financial governance within the participant's remit

For your organisation

  • More credible budgets supported by realistic baselines, ceilings and scenario analysis
  • Earlier identification of cash shortages, arrears risks and contingent liabilities
  • Clearer accountability for approvals, controls, performance measures and audit actions
  • Better evidence for prioritising expenditure, subsidy reform and public investment commitments
  • Stronger fiscal transparency for legislatures, citizens, donors and external auditors

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map decision rights, accountability relationships and ethical controls within a public institution.

  • Public value, legality and stewardship in government decision rights
  • Accountability chains linking ministers, executives, accounting officers and service managers
  • RACI matrices for delegated authority, escalation and approval controls
  • Three-lines model roles for management, risk and internal audit
  • Stakeholder mapping using power-interest grids and consultation protocols
  • Ethical decision tests, conflict declarations and gifts registers

Participants can assess the core systems, classifications and controls supporting public financial management.

  • PEFA dimensions used to diagnose budget reliability and fiscal transparency
  • PFM cycle from strategic planning through audit and legislative scrutiny
  • Control objectives mapped to authorization, segregation, custody and reconciliation
  • Internal control frameworks based on COSO principles and control activities
  • Chart-of-accounts design linking administrative, economic, functional and programme classifications
  • IPSAS reporting boundaries, consolidation issues and disclosure responsibilities

Participants can build and assess medium-term fiscal plans using credible assumptions and scenarios.

  • Fiscal anchors, operational rules and escape clauses assessed for credibility
  • Medium-term fiscal frameworks linking macro forecasts, ceilings and policy choices
  • Baseline projections separating policy change, price effects and volume pressures
  • Fiscal space analysis using revenue effort, expenditure commitments and financing capacity
  • Scenario analysis for commodity shocks, disasters and exchange-rate movements
  • Distributional analysis identifying who bears taxes, transfers and service reductions

Participants can analyse revenue and expenditure choices to identify affordable fiscal improvements.

  • Tax policy analysis using efficiency, equity, simplicity and administrability criteria
  • Revenue forecasting with buoyancy, elasticity and policy-adjusted forecast methods
  • Tax expenditure statements estimating exemptions, reliefs and foregone revenue
  • Spending reviews distinguishing mandatory, discretionary and low-value expenditures
  • Programme costing from unit costs, caseloads and delivery assumptions
  • Subsidy reform options tested against affordability, targeting and political economy

Participants can link resource allocations to measurable service results and execution controls.

  • Top-down budgeting using aggregate ceilings and ministerial expenditure limits
  • Programme budgeting structures linking appropriations, outputs, outcomes and indicators
  • SMART performance indicators with baselines, targets, data sources and owners
  • Gender-responsive budgeting tags applied to allocations, beneficiaries and results
  • Budget calendar controls coordinating cabinet decisions, legislature and publication milestones
  • Variance analysis separating price, volume, timing and implementation causes

Participants can improve liquidity planning, payment prioritisation and commitment management.

  • 13-week rolling cash forecasts built from receipts, payroll and supplier data
  • Treasury single account principles, bank reconciliation and idle-balance management
  • Commitment controls preventing arrears through purchase orders and commitment registers
  • Cash rationing criteria prioritising statutory obligations, payroll and essential services
  • Payment scheduling aligned with liquidity forecasts and approved spending plans
  • Arrears ageing analysis distinguishes disputed invoices, unpaid commitments and liabilities

Participants can identify, quantify and communicate major debt and fiscal risk exposures.

  • Debt sustainability analysis using baseline, stress tests and debt indicators
  • Debt portfolio metrics covering maturity, currency, interest-rate and refinancing risks
  • Contingent liability registers for guarantees, litigation, disasters and public entities
  • Fiscal risk statements disclosing quantified exposures, scenarios and mitigation actions
  • Borrowing plans aligned with cash needs, fiscal rules and market access
  • Public-private partnership fiscal commitments assessed through affordability and value-for-money tests

Participants can apply governance tests to procurement, public enterprises and partnership commitments.

  • Procurement planning links annual budgets, specifications, market analysis and schedules
  • Whole-life costing compares acquisition, operation, maintenance, disposal and risk costs
  • Bid evaluation criteria separate responsiveness, technical quality, price and qualification
  • Contract management dashboards track milestones, variations, claims and supplier performance
  • State-owned enterprise oversight uses ownership policies, performance agreements and risk reports
  • PPP gateway reviews test affordability, fiscal exposure and procurement readiness

Participants can strengthen fiscal disclosure, audit follow-up and integrity risk controls.

  • Fiscal Transparency Code principles for reporting, forecasting and fiscal risk disclosure
  • Citizens' budgets translate appropriations, priorities and service commitments into accessible language
  • Supreme audit institution findings converted into management action plans
  • Audit recommendations tracked through owners, deadlines, evidence and closure criteria
  • Integrity risk assessments identify fraud schemes, control gaps and red flags
  • Whistleblowing protocols protect reporting channels, confidentiality, investigation and retaliation safeguards

Participants can prepare a practical, accountable plan for targeted governance and fiscal reform.

  • Problem-driven iterative adaptation sequences reforms through tested increments and feedback
  • Reform theory of change links inputs, outputs, outcomes and assumptions
  • Political economy analysis maps interests, incentives, blockers and reform champions
  • Implementation roadmaps assign milestones, dependencies, resources and accountable owners
  • Benefits realisation measures fiscal savings, service effects and control improvements
  • Personal application plans prioritise one governance and one fiscal intervention

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

What you take back to work

  1. Public sector accountability and decision-rights map
  2. Medium-term fiscal framework and scenario model
  3. Programme budget performance indicator template
  4. 13-week rolling cash forecast template
  5. Fiscal risk and contingent liability register
  6. Governance and fiscal reform implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Ministry of Finance Managers — responsible for fiscal planning, budget execution or treasury decisions
  • Budget Directors and Analysts — need stronger methods for ceilings, costing and performance review
  • Public Sector Finance Managers — oversee controls, reporting, commitments and cash management
  • Internal Auditors and Risk Managers — assess control design, fiscal exposures and follow-up actions
  • Programme and Policy Managers — must connect service commitments with affordable resource plans
  • State-Owned Enterprise and PPP Officers — monitor fiscal commitments, guarantees and ownership risks

Skills and tools covered

Public financial managementFiscal risk analysisBudget performance managementCash flow forecastingGovernance controlsReform implementation

Tools and standards

PEFA Framework, IPSAS, COSO Internal Control Framework, IMF Fiscal Transparency Code

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish core concepts, followed by public sector cases, guided group analysis and practical design work. Participants interpret budget and cash data, assess fiscal shock scenarios, map governance responsibilities, review control gaps and prepare risk responses. Simulations examine competing expenditure demands, cash rationing and fiscal risk disclosures. Facilitated discussion compares approaches used by central government, local government, public agencies and state-owned enterprises. Each participant develops an application plan based on a live institutional issue.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience with public budgets, financial reporting, programme management, audit, procurement, policy implementation or related government administration. They should understand basic budget terms such as revenue, expenditure, appropriation, commitment, cash payment and variance. Familiarity with their institution's budget cycle or financial rules is useful. The course does not require advanced economics, econometric modelling, accounting qualifications, specialist treasury experience or prior use of PEFA, IPSAS or debt sustainability models. Participants should bring examples of current governance or fiscal issues they wish to address.

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 public budgeting and financial administration terms and have some exposure to government, public agency or development programme work. Advanced economics, accounting credentials and debt modelling experience are not required.

Bring a laptop if possible, together with a current budget, audit issue, fiscal risk, cash management concern or reform priority from your institution. Sensitive documents are not required; anonymised examples and approximate figures are sufficient.

The course suits finance, budget, treasury, procurement, audit, risk, policy and programme professionals working in public institutions or publicly funded bodies. It also suits managers who approve spending or oversee service delivery without holding a specialist finance role.

Public finance courses often focus on fiscal policy, taxation and macroeconomic choices, while public financial management courses may focus mainly on budget systems and controls. This course connects governance, budget decisions, fiscal sustainability, cash, debt, risk, procurement and accountability.

Participants can use the templates to map approval responsibilities, improve cash forecasting, document fiscal risks and follow up audit actions. The final application plan identifies a focused intervention, accountable owner, milestones and measures of progress.

The programme runs for five instructor-led training days, normally 08:30-16:30, with about 6.5 contact hours each day. Time is divided between concise briefings, case analysis, group work, simulations and application planning across the ten modules.

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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