The budget is a political instrument that is the main tool at governments’ disposal to allocate resources to achieve political priorities. All policies and priorities that derive from the planning process need to be costed to ensure that they are realistic and that they can be accommodated within the resource constraint identified during the budget formulation process.
Budget formulation includes the steps and processes necessary for preparing a government’s budget, from preliminary analyses and forecasts, submission of budget requests by ministries and other government units, the review and decision by the executive, to its official presentation to the legislature.
The aim of the course is to involve participants in a joint learning journey to share their experience and knowledge in strengthening the national budget formulation processes.
Course schedule and structure
This course is divided into 4 units each lasting 1 week. Each week we will discuss a different topic but they are all closely related to each other. During the last week of the course participants will be asked to reflect on what they have learned throughout the on-line knowledge exchange experience.To maximize the benefit from the course, a commitment of around of around 7 to 10 hours each week will be necessary to allow sufficient time to go through all the materials and respond to questions or work with other course members on specific assignments.
A certificate of completion will only be awarded to participants who complete each of the weekly assignments. Assignments must be submitted on time in order to start the next unit and receive a certificate at the end. The course facilitators will inform participants of all deadlines.
UNIT 1 - Public Financial Management: The Role of Budget Formulation in the Budget Cycle
The unit introduces public financial management (PFM). The state budget is at the core of government activities in all countries. This unit elaborates on the role of the state budget. Three objectives that identify the main goals of modern PFM systems are introduced. PFM systems are described in detail explaining how these various processes are structured around the budget cycle to ensure that public expenditure is well planned, executed and accounted for. The key actors and their roles are also described at the end of this unit.
UNIT 2 - Budget Formulation: Key Steps
This unit presents in detail the key elements of the budget planning and formulation process, the main players, the main steps in budget formulation, and typical weaknesses identified in budget planning systems. To understand the budget process, we need to understand who does what, and why, at each step in the process. The unit will provide a detailed explanation of all the steps, from preliminary analyses and forecasts to its official presentation to the legislature.
UNIT 3 - Medium-Term Budgeting
Units 3 and 4 focus on topical PFM innovations. They have been around for many years but have been identified as key reforms by many countries over the last two decades. Unit 3 introduces medium-term budgeting. In most advanced and some transition countries the budget process is increasingly being planned out under the auspices of a multi-annual or medium-term budget framework (MTBF), with varying degrees of success.
UNIT 4 - Budget Classification, Program and Performance Budgeting
Program and performance budgeting has been advocated in various forms since the 1960’s, but in recent years has taken on a greater urgency as countries increasingly focus on identification of their policy priorities, the actions that need to be taken to achieve these priority objectives (frequently known as programs) and the measurement of the performance of the programs to identify if the objectives are being met. Development of a more results based form of budgeting allows for expenditures to be allocated more effectively ensuring that government policy priorities are being addressed over the medium-term. The objective of this unit is to help the course participants to better understand the challenges in implementing program and performance-oriented budgets.
Course methodology
The e-learning course uses a variety of learning methods and tools to ensure that productive learning and knowledge exchange takes place. The course is focused on providing a lively, interactive environment with the same participant-centered, experience-based approach that we offer participants at our face-to-face learning events.
The course makes use of videos, learning maps, presentations, group work, country experiences, and other tools to assure that participants will get the most out of this learning activity.
To see the CEF e-learning platform, click the following link. Participants will be able to access the course once they are accepted to the course and receive their username and password.
Who should attend
This e-learning course provides an opportunity to learn and share experience for officials who participate in budget formulation processes in ministries of finance and line ministries in EU candidate and potential candidate countries covered by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Regulation and beneficiaries of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting project.
No fee will be charged for the course. However, a maximum of 4 participants per beneficiary country will be accepted to the courses. The final selection of participants will be made by the CEF.
The course will be highly participatory, and participants will be encouraged to share their experience with their colleagues throughout the course.
The course will be delivered in English. Therefore, participants are required to have to be proficient in this language.
