Citizen engagement and public financial management

Why government financial leaders are key to advancing citizen engagement.

Around the world, organisations are discovering the benefits of putting people at the centre of their plans and processes. There can hardly be an industry where people matter more than government.

For decades, there has been a tendency for governments to design and provide services based on their own internal processes and needs. By contrast, contemporary citizen-centric governments put the needs of the people at the centre of everything they do, with the goal of improving efficiency, quality and satisfaction.

What does this kind of citizen-centric government have to do with government financial managers? What can financial practitioners do to improve engagement with citizens? How should they prioritise citizen engagement in relation to their other goals, such as transparency and modernisation? These are some of the questions we explore in this year’s global public financial management (PFM) leaders research, jointly published by Grant Thornton International Limited and the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM).

It is designed for anyone involved or interested in PFM and draws on insights from financial leaders in governments around the world, as well as related thought leaders and academic experts. We focus on how PFM fits within the primary purpose of government – the provision of public goods to people. We also explore practical ways to engage with citizens, improve transparency and build more effective PFM systems.

We hope the report will stimulate debate among all those involved in PFM around how fiscal transparency and citizen engagement can be encouraged, how citizens can be made more aware of how their public resources are being used, and how these measures can reduce corruption and encourage more open societies.