Abstract:
It is expected that an effective PFM system should ensure efficient allocation of scarce resources, ensuring that scarce resources are
deployed to their optimal use; leading to effective delivery of public goods and services to the citizenry at optimal prices; and consequently
contribute towards the achievement of a sustainable fiscal position. This shouldbring about economic development and poverty reduction. The
evidence suggest that Ghana’s PFM system has so far not delivered good economic governance. The reports of the Auditor General of the
Republic of Ghana repeatedly highlight: noncompliance with the PFM legal framework, and findings of corrupt practices against a number of
public officers and institutions. Lessons can be drawn from the petroleum revenue management framework to improve the PFM governance
framework.Such lessons include: having extensive and meaningful consultations with relevant stakeholders in developing the PFM legal
framework to ensure that it captures the key features of a functional PFM system, having clear fiscal responsibility rules that guide spending,
savings and investment decisions, administering a strong and robust accountability framework that holds spending officers to account in a fair
and just manner, and having a mechanism to compel mandatory reporting in accordance with established reporting standards.
