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Public finance management and public sector budgeting play a fundamental role in balancing the social and economic objectives of the state and acts as an important determinant of economic performance and access to international capital markets. The importance of having strong public finance management systems along with comprehensive and transparent evaluation of fiscal risk has been extremely important since the exponential growth in the size of government in the past 100 years and with the myriad of challenges highlighted by the 2008 financial crisis and again during the COVID-19 pandemic. This course will examine both theoretical and empirical perspectives on public finance management with a focus on actors and institutional constraints and a practical/contemporary evaluation of the public sector from a broader macroeconomic perspective. While the study of public finance management is extremely vast covering several disciplines and specialized areas, the purpose of this course is to provide students with a broad practical understanding of public finance management and budgeting drawing on real world examples from a multidisciplinary perspective including economics, accounting, finance and political science. Specific topics covered will include public sector reform, budget theory, debt sustainability, fiscal surveillance, time horizons, subnational public finance, public sector accounting and fiscal transparency.ÌýÌý

By the end of this course, students should:

1. Understand public budgeting systems and the role of actors and institutions in public finance management. This includes:ÌýÌý

• the drafting, execution and surveillance of the budget processÌýÌý
• broader macroeconomic implications of public policy decisionsÌýÌý
• adherence to international public sector accounting standards

2. Be familiar with theoretical frameworks and empirical approaches to the study of budgeting and public sector finance management.Ìý

3. Be able to critically evaluate the budget process, the quality and comprehensiveness of government financial statements and the associated fiscal risks and macroeconomic outcomes both across and within countries.Ìý