Since we started developing PFM courses we have noticed that many new eLearning, blended learning and face-to-face courses in public financial management have become available. One notable offering is the PFMx course from the International Monetary Fund. This course is extensive, well-packaged and free of charge.
We are often asked what the difference is between the IMF course in PFM and our own foundation course in public financial management.
Since we started developing PFM courses we have noticed that many new eLearning, blended learning and face-to-face courses in public financial management have become available. One notable offering is the PFMx course from the International Monetary Fund. This course is extensive, well-packaged and free of charge.
We are often asked what the difference is between the IMF course in PFM and our own foundation course in public financial management.
ICGFM Foundation Course in
Public Financial Management
A practical foundation course in public financial management for professionals.
First, it is important to note that the IMF course is not a competitor to the ICGFM Foundation Course, in fact, it is very complimentary providing a different view of PFM. There are 3 main points to understanding this:-
- The IMF course focuses on the “management of public finances” with a focus on fiscal management. It is therefore particularly suitable for persons who make fiscal policy decisions. The Foundation course is aimed at those participants who need to know the practical aspects of how PFM works and the role of PFM in achieving the goals of a government.
- The Foundation course focuses on the actual practice of PFM with extensive numeric examples and case studies for students to work through to build an understanding of the processes of PFM, their relationship to each other, and to the overall entity goals. The Foundation course shows students how to implement the whole financial management cycle from recording transactions, creating financial reports under cash or accrual IPSAS, creating budgets, and the control and audit of all such activities.
- The ICGFM course uses two fictitious countries to simulate how a country could implement a sequence of PFM functions. This enables us to simulate real-world requirements, for example, accrual and cash accounting as applied to a country. We use one country as a demonstration, the other to provide examples for students to work through and include a quiz at the end to test their work. The Foundation course is thus very interactive – besides the country simulations, there are multiple quizzes and tests.
The Diploma course is for persons who have completed the Foundation course or otherwise have some knowledge of PFM and wish to develop their knowledge and skills to a higher level. The focus is on developing skills and knowledge of the many issues faced by PFM professionals. The approach in the Diploma course is similar to the Foundation with the same two countries used to simulate real-world issues and problems and to provide students with numeric examples at a more advanced level. The Diploma course recognises that there are often alternative approaches and conflicts between approaches and argues against a “one size fits all approach”, instead providing balanced arguments for different approaches and methodologies.
If you are interested in PFM and would like more information on how our course can help you, please read more here.