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gramming issues, and have sometimes urged purely technical solutions devoid of a sense of the systemic fiscal management and public administration factors involved in their implementation. For example, a recommendation in the previous version of CFAA guidelines to foster public access to financial information was misinterpreted by one CFAA team leader as encouraging the introduction of freedom of information legislation-a far broader issue than its financial information aspect, with significant governance and public administration implications, and on which the team did not have all the necessary skills. When assessments are conducted in a purely advisory capacity without direct links to future assistance, unrealistic recommendations or inconsistencies can usually be ironed out through subsequent dialogue. But when a Fiscal ROSC (theoretically purely advisory), a PER (theoretically diagnostic), or a CFAA (theoretically not an audit) is carried out as part of preparations for IMF support, World Bank assistance, or both, it is important to ensure that recommendations are correct, realistic, and consistent. In addition to the measures for stronger coordination recommended earlier, careful attention needs to be paid by the responsible managers to staffing assessment teams, identifying competent and independent peer reviewers, and ensuring constructive interaction among teams carrying out fiduciary assessments. In such cases Quality Enhancement Reviews (QERs)-mechanisms that ensure robust, independent vetting of Bank projects while they are being prepared-should be the rule rather than the exception to improve quality at entry. A related issue is how to provide quality assurance in assessments involving several development agencies. The Bank has mechanisms such as the Quality Assurance Group (QAG), but these are mostly internal. Agencies should consider establishing a quality assurance procedure that applies to all participants in multidonor assessments. DEVELOPING A PROGRAMMATIC AND MODULAR APPROACH In the late 1980s, in response to the growing length, complexity, and repetitive content of some PERs, it was suggested that the Bank develop a modular PER that offered standard coverage and formats for each module but that was adapted to country circumstances by including only the relevant areas and issues, as represented by modules. Though attempts were made in that direction, however, they did not succeed. Similar suggestions have recently been advanced in response to the overlap between assessment instruments. One suggestion, previously noted, is to fully integrate existing fiduciary assessments to ensure consistency and exploit synergies-though this approach poses difficulties. Another option is the programmatic approach: reorganizing existing instruments into a set of modules, with each module representing a component of public expenditure management. This approach would eliminate the overlap between instruments, fill gaps, help avoid sending multiple missions to collect similar data, and allow countries and development agencies to focus on problems most relevant to each country. A modular approach already exists for the questionnaires, checklists, survey instruments, and other tools that assist the fact finding on which assessments are based. The UNDPs CONTACT guidelines, for example, are essentially a set of linked questionnaires. As noted, there are also useful checklists and questionnaires for the Banks PERs and other fiduciary economic and sector work. Similarly, the IMFs Fiscal ROSC can be considered a module assessing the transparency and accountability of budget institutions and processes. To support teams conducting assessments, it may be worth consolidating the various questionnaires and other tools into the modules created for each component of public expenditure management. These modules could be based on the classifications in box 2, supplemented by additional modules covering the revenue side of the budget and possibly other issues outside the scope of existing instruments and questionnaires. A more radical approach would be to establish a framework for public expenditure assessment and reform that is both programmatic and modular. Here programmatic means a sequenced program of diagnostic and capacity building activities, rooted in a strategy that the recipient country agrees to with donors and other stakeholders. Such an approach is illustrated in figure 2, where the columns-representing the proposed modules-are equivalent to the main categories in box 2, complemented by a few other areas of concern (such as institutional analysis).6 The programmatic, modular approach is not intended as a blueprint for reform, but rather as a conceptual framework that can be used to gradually move away from existing instruments without having to fully integrate fiduciary assessments. Relevant to such efforts is the working group created in July 2003 by the Bank and IMF, with PEFA support, to examine options for improving the robustness, relevance, and cost-effectiveness of public expenditure work. This working group was established partly in response to the February Figure 2: A new public expenditure assessment framework Government Strategy and Action Plan for Capacity Building Standardized Assessment (Overview) PER CFAA HIPC AAP ROSC CPAR EC Audit IGR
Performance and Results Uses and Outputs: ~ New Assessment Framework /Modules Existing У Assessment Instruments Methodology Guidelines, Questionnaires, and Checklists 2003 Bank-IMF paper on collaborative public expenditure work (World Bank and IMF 2003), partly in response to the strong interest of other donors and stakeholders, and partly in response to PEFAs work on this study. The following paragraphs offer some preliminary thoughts on the main issues involved and describe the conceptual and practical questions that need to be answered. Under a programmatic and modular approach there would be strong emphasis on examining the public expenditure management system as a whole and identifying links and relationships between its parts. Each country would be encouraged to develop a strategic plan for reforming public expenditure management, linked to its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 [ 27 ] 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 |