Public Sector Governance and Accountability Series

Budgeting and Budgetary Institutions edited by Anwar Shah

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Budgetary institutions and the budgetary process fulfill several important functions. These include setting priorities in the allocation of public resource; planning to achieve policy goals; establishing finance control over inputs to ensure compliance with rules; managing operations with fiscal prudence, efficiency, and integrity; and ensuring accountability to taxpayers. The effectiveness of budgetary institutions has been recognized in the economic and political science literature as contributing to improved fiscal and economic outcomes. In developing countries, especially in Africa, budgetary processes and institutions are not yet well enough developed to perform the above-mentioned functions adequately; instead, they provide work as means of legalistic controls. The reform of these institutions is critical to improving government performance in service delivery and to strengthening parliamentary and citizens’ oversight on government operations.

This volume provides a comprehensive guide to reforming budgeting and budgetary institutions. The book is divided into tow parts. The first part provides a primer on budgeting and budgetary institutions. It covers budget processes, methods, and associated tools and practices. Both the traditional and modern concepts of budgeting and accounting are elaborated. In addition, implementation issues in introducing integrated financial information management systems and assessment methods for public expenditure management and financial accountability are discussed. The second part of this volume presents an overview of issues involved in prioritizing and sequencing public expenditure management in Africa and in postconflict countries. In addition, two case studies on budgeting are presented that cover Kenya and South Africa.

The volume represents a collaborative effort of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the World Bank Institute to further the exchange of knowledge on better practices in public expenditure management reform to improve access to public services by the poor in African and other developing countries. I hope that policy makers in developing countries will find this volume useful in their future endeavors to improve their budgetary processes and institutions.