Workshop on “Public Finances and Budgeting Reforms in ...

1 RegionalSchool ofPublicAdministrationWorkshop on public Finances and Budgeting Reformsin public Administration Danilovgrad (Montenegro),8-11 May 2012 PROVISIONAL PROGRAMMEB ackgroundThe financial management in the public administration usually encompasses all, or partof the processes and functions of planning and programming of the publicadministration, Budgeting , budget execution and accounting, monitoring, auditing same time traditional planning ofpublic administrationreforms inrecent time in many countries did not cover the issues of budget financialmanagement is considered as aseparate field of Reforms whichis one ofthereasonsfor thelack of coordination, duplicating activities and even partial failure of reforminitiatives.

2 To address these issues it isof utmost importanceto buildthecomponent ofthepublic finance and budget Reforms intotheoverall frameworkofpublic administrationreform, both conceptually and in relation to the efforts of EU integration process, inpromoting improved governance. Thus, it can be concluded that the financialmanagementas a field is in close relationwith the civil service and its workwithregardsto the Budgeting , public investment,performance measurement,accounting, auditingand other financial management systems of the public institutions, strategic planning,programevaluation, public Finances , including aid coordination, economic management,the executive decision-making system, and the allocation of responsibilities all this ispart ofthe work of the public To provide trainees withan analysis framework for thinking about public financeand Budgeting Reforms under a broader context of public administration reform .

3 Tofamiliarize participants with basic concepts in regard todesigning ofpublicfinance and Budgeting reformsand logical steps of implementation; Toenable the participants toapply analysis onthe public financesand budgetingreforms used at theirhomecountries andtointroduce them to the bestand mostrelevant examples from other ofPublicAdministrationContentThe training program covers the main typical approaches, methodologies and steps tothe planning and execution of public budget reform , by introducing recent experiencesand lessons learned in similar Reforms in OECD and EE countries. The key statement ofthe training program stresses importance of coordinated approach to budget reform asa part of overall public administration reform process.

4 Step by step going through themain tools, methodologiesand procedures used for transition to the result based andmedium term budget planning, programwill cover all the basic tasksthat shall befulfilled in other parts of public administration introductory part of the training will include interactive discussion with purpose toidentify most common problems of budget Reforms in the home countries of problems will be addressed by trainers in the training course. Introductory part ofthe training also will include overview of the frequently used approaches of the budgetreforms, like 0 based Budgeting , activity based Budgeting , program term expenditure framework will betheoverall frame of the will cover main concepts of medium term budget preparation, likemacroeconomic forecast, fiscal frame, budget deficit and structure of expenditure partetc.

5 The most recent types of new regulation of the budget process, like Fiscal disciplelaws used in several countries will be the importance of the public policy system will be stressed in relation tointroduction ofresults based and program Budgeting . Lectures will cover the mainconcepts and elements of policy planning used in budget process objectives andgoals of thepolicies, planning of activities and performance measurement and systemsof performance indicators. Training program will introducethesystem of strategic plansof institutions as one of the tools used in many countries as the platform bringingtogetherprocesses ofpolicy planning and budget will address practical issues of the budget reform relations between mediumterm budget planning and annual budget process, preparation of budget calendar andmain steps in the process of preparation of annual budget, including tools andapproaches to budget discussion, budget classification systems and their links to statefunctions and policies.

6 This part of the training will include cases from Western Balkanand Eastern Europe countries and international evaluations of the recent day 3 of the training will cover budget execution issues, accounting and monitoringof the budget execution, most typical administrative burdens and inefficiencies of thebudget execution process and lessons learnedonhow to deal with bad ofPublicAdministrationThe last day of the training will be devoted to the more in-depth insight to the system ofperformance indicators used for planning and monitoring purposes of the public budgetand role andimportance of the transparency and intelligibility of the budget cases of recently developed new budget information systems will be exercises will be devoted to restructuring of the budget by budget programsand public functions and establishment of the performance indicators for discussions with participants are plannedatthe end of

7 Each day, tosummarize the main lessons learned and most useful approaches that can be withpractical relevance to theparticipants. The final summarizing discussion will be includedatthe end of the GroupThe civil servants working with issues ofpublic administration reform planning andexecution,policy development and strategic planning, policy coordination,employed ininstitutions likeMinistry of finance , Ministry of Economy,Prime Minister s Office(centres of the governments), Ministries of public Administration, Petersoneis the Director of the Latvian School of public Administration andhas more than 15 years ofwork experience in the public administration of Latvia. Shehas hold position of the Director of the Strategy Department at the Ministry of Educationof Latvia and more recently been the Deputy Director of the State Chancellery on PublicAdministration andPolicy had been deeply involved inpreparation ofMethodology forMedium Term Expenditure Framework, elaboration ofannual budget calendar, redesigning of the government procedures for the budgetarydecision making and system of performance indicators.

8 Recently she lead the work onelaboration of system of functional analysis of budget expenditures in accordance withpublic functions of that she has an extensive track record ofconsultancy work in countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Romania, Moldovaand Trebickais the Executive Director of EuroPartners Development, a non-governmentalorganizationbased in Albania. She has been working for 13 years forAlbanian government, holding several senior positions, with the last one as Director ofPublic Investment Programming and Donors Coordination in Albania (METC). In thisposition she has been co-leading the preparation and implementation of the firstMedium Term Financial Framework(2001-2003),for Albania She has been member ofthe World Bank Staff for 6 years, covering the governance sector in the WB ResidentMission of Albania.

9 Since 2006 she is working in several countries of Western BalkanCountriesas institutional and capacity building expert in area of PEM, civil service,policy formulation has been member of the team assisting the Government ofAlbania for strengthening management capacities in the public ExpenditureManagement has been carrying out several fiscal impact assessments forspecific Reforms introduced by Albania and Kosovo Janis Zviguliscurrently is an expert engaged in devising of the NationalDevelopment Plan of the Republic of Latvia for years 2014-2020, which will be used asbasis for medium-term policy making, Budgeting , and acquisition of EU funds. He is alsoengaged in a number of private sector activities in the fields of health care,biotechnologies, and management consulting.

10 Mr. Zvigulis has the experience ofmanaging the process of introduction of medium-term Budgeting in Latvia (he was themain responsible person at the Ministry of finance for developing the concept ofmedium-term Budgeting and thereaftertransferring the ideas from the concept to thenormative acts), being deeply involved in improving the policy making and strategicplanning system of Latvia, and chairing the working group for improving theperformance management system in Latvia. He has lecturing experience in Tajikistan,Uzbekistan, and Lebanon as well as domestically. Mr. Zvigulis has also been involvedin devising the plan for recovery of Latvia after the recent crisis started (in collaborationwith the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank),including writing of the Social Safety Net Strategy for the training will be delivered through a series of presentations aimed at providing easy-to-understand information on the majorconcepts associated with public finance andbudgeting Reforms around the different approaches of budget Reforms program Budgeting , 0 based Budgeting , activity based Budgeting ,etc.