Monitoring the Change from Administration to Management: Demonstrating This Through the Utilisation of a Statement of Internal Control

“As with any reform information should be available about how well the reform is proceeding and what have been the results of the reform. With PFM/IC very often the information about the reform progress is limited to information about the procedural arrangements that have been adopted, that is, the laws and regulations. This tells the observer, who could be a ministry of finance, a parliament, a state auditor or civil society nothing about how effectively the reform has been applied, the level of benefits arising from the reform or indeed the costs. It says nothing about weaknesses which may have emerged or how they have been dealt with. In this chapter a more effective form of reporting is recommended which is called a ‘statement of internal control’. This statement should be prepared by the head of operational management and approved by the political head of the organisation. Examples are given of this statement. Ideally this statement should be published as part of the transparency and accountability arrangements.