Public Finance Management

The broad aim of this course is to introduce participants to key knowledge and skills pertaining to Public Financial Management

Course Outcomes:

Upon completing this course, participants should be able to:

•  be familiar with key South African macroeconomic issues, & public financial management legislation, State Treasury Regulations, and the Public Finance Management Act;

• understand the weaknesses of traditional public finance management systems and the vision of the Public Finance Management Act;

• understand public finance management terminology and concepts;

• be familiar with the financial planning and budgeting system of the State;

• be aware of new and old management principles, approaches, and paradigms;

• be able to differentiate and apply various financial planning and budgeting techniques such as: Medium Term Expenditure Framework, zero-based budgeting, incremental budgeting, programme budgeting, and performance budgeting;

• be able to manage budget, cash-flow projections, and variance analysis successfully;

• be able to interpret and develop public financial management reports such as: income and expenditure statement, budget, MTEF format, cash-flow projection, variance analysis, assets register, programme budget, performance budget, and balance sheet;

• be aware of cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency financial management concepts;

• be familiar with key principles of successful contract and tender management;

• be familiar with the concepts of financial decentralisation, cost-centres, and delegations and

• Be aware of public finance management success and failure factors.

• Demonstrating an understanding of the key concepts of managerial finance.

• Interpreting financial statements.

• Drafting financial forecasts.

• Drafting budgets according to the operational plans of the unit.

• Supervising the financial management of a unit against given requirements

• Explaining the concept of budgeting pertinent to an area of responsibility.

• Determining the elements of a budget relevant to an area of responsibility.

• Monitoring and controlling actual expenses (and revenue), against projected budget.